


Free to Be You and Me

by BrightTerror



Series: Raising God (Baby Jack Verse) [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Accidental Baby Acquisition, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Awesome Eileen Leahy, Baby Jack Kline, Bisexual Dean Winchester, Canon divergence-15x19, Domestic Fluff, Eileen Leahy Deserves Better, Family Fluff, Fix-It, Fix-It of Sorts, Fluff, Found Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Its mostly fluff but there will be angst, John Winchester's A+ Parenting, Light Angst, M/M, Protective Dean Winchester, Sort Of, The winchesters talk about their problems for once, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Will add tags as I update, because they have like four decades of trauma and that has to be adressed, dadstiel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-13 21:28:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 38,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28660227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrightTerror/pseuds/BrightTerror
Summary: "Both he and Cas saw him at the same time and froze at the sight of the child. They now understood why Sam wanted them to be quiet. “What the hell?” Dean whispered loud enough for Cas and Sam to hear but not enough to wake the child.“Is that...” Cas began trying to formulate his question, his eyes were squinted as if he was thinking too hard trying to solve something.“Jack?” Sam finished his question for him “Yeah, it's him.”___________They have defeated Chuck and saved the world yet again, but it’s not like they can finally take a much needed rest, they’re the Winchesters, when have they ever had a break from the next Big Thing? Now they have to figure out how to care of a toddler-aged Jack and find out why he got deaged in the first placeThis is a Baby Jack fic that takes place after 15x19.
Relationships: Castiel & Jack Kline, Castiel/Dean Winchester, Donna Hanscum/Jody Mills, Eileen Leahy/Sam Winchester, Jack Kline & Dean Winchester, Jack Kline & Sam Winchester, Kaia Nieves/Claire Novak, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Series: Raising God (Baby Jack Verse) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2100417
Comments: 65
Kudos: 216





	1. Reunions and Surprises

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! Some quick things i have to say first:  
> \- This will be centred around Jack for the most part, however since this is the introductory chapter, it will mostly revolve around the Winchesters and Castiel. After this, the focus will be on their relation with Jack.  
> \- This takes place after 15x19 so there will be obvious spoilers of that episode.  
> -This isn't beta read so I apologise for any typos/mistakes  
> -This is my first Multichapter SPN fic, and i hope you enjoy it! :D

“Well, that’s over huh.” Dean stared at the place where Jack had disappeared after bringing everyone back. He didn’t feel good about winning because now that it was over, he had to confront reality, confront who he lost, confront himself about Cas… he wasn’t looking forward to any of that. Sure, they defeated God but at what cost? Definitely one he wasn’t sure he’d be willing to pay again if he could go back and change it. 

“Yeah,” Sam breathed out relieved. “No more apocalypse, no more powerful supernatural entities after us…” he trailed off into his thoughts, he looked around as if he didn’t fully believe what he was seeing. Those few days without a single living thing but them on earth really messed up with him. “We did it.” He smiled and said it again to reassure himself and his brother. 

“Yeahh. Well, if I’m no longer needed, I’m gonna go find a liquor store and drink it.” 

Sam frowned; Dean did not say that to imply a celebratory drink as he expected but more as to drink his problems away. “Dean?” 

“What?” Dean huffed. “You think I’m going to celebrate while half our family is gone?” He asked. “Look, I’m happy that the plan turned out fine. Jack managed to defeat Chuck without any problems, it worked out for us. It's great the world is still standing, but” He paused and leaned on the impala, looking everywhere but at Sam. “We just lost the kid and I lost Cas… how am I supposed to be okay with that?” He said it quietly in contrast with him almost yelling the rest of his conversation. Sam still heard him. 

“You’re right.” Sam put his hands in his jacket pockets and looked at his brother. Dean barely talked about his feelings, and this was more than he had said since the whole third apocalypse fiasco started. Everything Dean told him had thrown him off a loop. Cas’ death took a toll on Dean as much as Eileen’s death took a toll on Sam, maybe more. “Let’s get a drink, there’s a bar a block away from here, you go get us some drinks and I’ll be there in a minute. I have to make a few calls.” 

Dean stared at him slightly confused. He was expecting an argument, maybe telling him to cheer up or appreciate what they had or some shit like that. But he wasn’t going to ask about it. He just wanted a drink, so gave a quick nod and began walking to the nearest bar. With his luck he could get drunk enough to momentarily forget about his loss of Cas. 

Sam watched him go and took out his phone, calling Bobby and then Jody to make sure they had been brought back. They picked up after the second ring and Sam was assured, they were back, as well as everyone else. Donna told him Charlie was back too. He then quickly Face Timed Eileen, being relieved she was alive, then went after Dean. 

He was going to give his brother this  _ one  _ day to sulk at his pity party and then tomorrow he would get his ass back to the bunker so they could figure out a way to rescue Cas. Thinking back, he hated the time when they had lost Cas a few years back, right around the time Jack was born. Dean had been devastated and lost all faith, yet Cas changed him when he came back. Sam wanted his brother happy again which was why he would try to get him his angel back. 

But first, drinks. Lots of them. They saved the world,  _ again _ , after all. He needed a day off. 

_______

“No. You’re not driving.” Dean winced at his own voice. He might have gone a bit overboard with the drinks yesterday. He doesn’t remember much after the seventh shot and second beer. He had achieved his goal of getting drunk until he passed out which helped him forget about Cas for a grand total of 6 hours, 4 of them which he was unconscious. 

Now it was the next day and life hit him hard, and this time, with an additional killer headache that made everything so  _ loud  _ and the lights so  _ bright _ . 

Which is why Sam had announced he was driving them back to the bunker while Dean got over his hangover. Problem was, he was stubborn, as always, and didn’t want to agree right away. He hated when anyone but him drove Baby. 

“C’mon, Dean. You are in no state for driving, I don’t really want to die from a car crash after everything we survived.” Sam used his ‘puppy face’ and furrowed his brows. “I promise I will be careful driving the car.” He sighed; Dean really cared about the impala to a slightly worrying degree sometimes. 

“Fine, but if anything happens, I will shoot you.” Dean said with no real threat to him and got in the passenger's seat. “Just no music, my head is killing me.” He closed his eyes once he entered the car to keep everything from being too bright. 

Sam drove for a couple of hours in silence while Dean dealt with his hangover by spending half the time asleep and the other half complaining about every small thing. Sam didn’t say anything about it because he understood how Dean felt, to a degree at least. He had felt lost and spiralling down when he lost Eileen--which he couldn't act on it because he had to save the world, he figured if doomsday wasn't pending he would have reacted similar to his brother,  _ maybe-- _ , and guessing Dean was  _ there  _ when Cas died must have made it even worse. He could be patient with him while they got Cas back, it's not like he had any other choice at the moment. 

Once they made it to the bunker, they tiredly made their way from the garage to the main entrance. Sam was carrying his own duffel bag and Dean’s. While Dean grumbled something about getting drinks. 

“You should get something to eat. You can’t live off alcohol and chips you bought at the gas stops.” 

“Watch me.” he replied almost automatically. “ Besides, I’m not hungry.” Dean shrugged. “What I do want is more drinks.” 

“You  _ just  _ got rid of a hangover.” Sam tensed; his jaw stared at him with so little patience. “Do you really want more alcohol?”

“Well, if I’m constantly drinking, I wont get a hangover.” Dean smirked cheekily. 

“I know you just want to drown in beer, but maybe you should take a shower first at  _ least _ . We haven’t had a chance to have a proper shower since the whole Chuck showdown.” Sam put the duffel bags down and passed his hand through his hair. “It would do you good, you can even hoard the warm water.” 

“Stop it.” Dean sighed. 

“Stop what?”

“I know what you’re doing. Being nice and all, you don’t have to coddle me. I’m fine. Leave it.” Dean answered and started walking towards the kitchen. “It’s not the first time we have lost family. So, we just keep going. We  _ have  _ to.” He grumbled. He knew Sam was trying to be nice, but he couldn’t deal with it. Not when it was his fault Cas was gone. He should have stopped it; he should have done  _ something _ . Which is exactly why he doesn’t deserve Sam’s niceness. 

“You’re right.” 

Dean raised his eyebrow; he didn’t think it would be this easy for Sam to drop the subject. 

“You’re right," Sam continued, "this is _not_ the first time we lost our family. So, you should know better we  _ will  _ find a way to fix it. Cas has been gone before; death didn’t stop him.”

“He won’t come back this time.” Dean’s voice was about to break. “You weren’t there. He… he saved me, and he won't be back because he made a deal with the Empty.”

Sam didn’t know the whole story of what happened with Cas that day, the more he found out the worse he felt for his brother. But the more it angered him to see Dean so broken. “So what? He made a deal. Like we haven’t done that before. I know we’ve been through a lot, but don’t think I need to remind you that you made a deal for your soul? Yet here you are.” Sam did his usual bitchface. 

“It’s different.” Dean barked out. By now, he had arrived at the kitchen, Sam following behind and was now opening the freezer to get a beer. 

Sam was trying to be patient, he really was. But he wanted to skip the part where Dean grieved like a widow and got his give em hell attitude back. He doesn’t want a repeat of the last time Dean lost Cas. 

Before they could say anything else, they were distracted by a loud noise coming from what appeared to be the main entrance. Sam and Dean shared a look and took out their guns. 

“What the hell.” Dean whispered as he got his gun ready. 

Sam shrugged. They never could get a break from a new danger, could they?

“You locked the bunker door, right?” 

Sam nodded. He knows he locked the place when they entered, and the place was heavily warded. No one was supposed to be here but them. 

Guns in hand, they made their way to the other room, ready to fight whatever the hell had gotten in. Dean went in first, he entered with his gun pointed forward until he completely froze and slightly lowered his gun. 

Sam turned and was just as shocked as Dean.

There was someone pulling himself up from the floor, someone they knew oh too well. Even though the man had his back turned on them they both knew that trench coat anywhere. 

“Cas?” Dean kept his voice as steady as he could, not believing his eyes. 

Cas turned around looking as confused as Sam and Dean were. He grabbed his trench coat and looked at himself, and then at his surroundings to convince himself what he was seeing was real. He finally made eye contact with him and looked relieved. “Dean?” He was lost for words. One second, he had been in the empty, getting beaten by the shadow entity for making everything loud again, and the next he was standing at the bunker, completely fine. 

Dean didn’t wait for another moment, walking towards him and engulfing him in a bone-crushing hug. Closing his eyes as he rested his chin on his shoulder. “You’re back.” He didn’t know if he said it more to assure himself or Cas. 

“It appears I am.” Cas replied, still hugging Dean. 

“How are you here?” 

“I was going to ask you the same thing.” Cas pulled away from the hug, yet was still close to him, staring. “I thought this was your doing. One second I was in the empty, next thing I know I’m here.”

“Jack must have done it.” Sam chimed in. As he spoke, Dean and Cas remembered they were not the only ones there. Sam smiled at Cas and waved. “Hi, Cas. It's good to see you again.” 

“Sam.” Castiel was relieved to see his friend was still alive. Last he was aware they had to fight Chuck. “What happened?” 

Sam and Dean shared a look and winced. “It’s a long story. But cliff notes version, we defeated Chuck, he is human now and now Jack is the new God.” 

Cas blinked. “How long was I gone? And what do you mean Chuck is human?” He squinted his eyes and tilted his head. 

“You were gone too long.”   
“About two weeks.” 

Dean and Sam answered simultaneously. Dean gave Sam a side look and focused his attention back to Cas. “Look, I’ll explain everything. But we just got back from everything that went on,” Dean smiled. “Besides, you’re back, and we don’t have to speed run our way to an explanation for once. So, I’m going to make some burgers and I can catch you up then.” He patted Cas’ shoulder and took a few steps back to head to the kitchen. “Whaddya say? You want burgers?” He asked both of them. 

Sam shook his head. “No, I’m good. I’m uh, going to go take a shower.” He was pleasantly shocked how Dean had completely changed in a matter of minutes, being way cheerier the moment Cas came back. Dean was fine now, and he sensed those two had much to talk about so he better leave them to talk. Plus, he really wanted a warm shower before Dean took one of his hour-long baths and wasted all the hot water. 

“Your loss.” Dean shrugged with a smile and turned to Cas, waiting for his answer. 

Cas nodded mutely.

“Great. I’m starving.” 

____

“So, you’re saying Jack absorbed Chuck’s powers? And he is fine?” Cas tried to wrap his head around it. For the past hour he had listened intently to Dean telling him everything that had happened; The entire world disappearing, leaving the Winchesters and Jack alone, from finding Michael until Jack brought everyone back. 

Dean nodded and bit into his homemade burger and smiled at Cas. He still couldn’t believe he was back. “Yeah, he made everything back to the way it was and then left, said he and Amara were not intervening like Chuck did.”

Cas was quiet for a minute. “I’m going to miss him.” 

Dean grimaced. “Me too, pal. Me too.” He hated how he treated Jack before everything went down. He didn’t know why he said he wasn’t family when it was obvious, he  _ was  _ family. It was until now that he finally had a moment to think about everything, and Jack was still a sore spot. But despite not having him back, he had the knowledge he was alive, which was something. 

He was lost in thought, eating his burger and Cas eating one too. Dean knew he was avoiding the metaphorical elephant in the room ever since Cas got back. Truth was, he had no idea how to broach the subject. Cas hadn’t said anything, and Dean knew him well enough he wouldn’t say a thing unless  _ he  _ did it first. 

Dean mentally decided his next course of action. _ Well..here goes nothing _ . “So. Cas...” he cleared his throat and Cas looked up from his burger. “About that day… when the Empty took you.”

“Dean, it's okay. We don’t have to speak of it.” Cas looked uncomfortable, and surprised. He wasn’t expecting this conversation to happen now, or at all. Cas was sure he was going to die for good when he said it and not have to deal with the mortifying ordeal of being rejected, he doesn’t regret it one bit though. Now that he was back, he was hoping Dean was going to ignore any emotional conversations given he buried his emotions half the time. 

“No, I have to say this.” Dean said and glanced away. “Look, I’m not the best at” he motioned vaguely at nothing, “this...talking... but I have to, I  _ want  _ to.” He took a deep breath. “Cas, when we were trapped, waiting for Billie to kill us and you started saying all that stuff, I was frozen. My mind was racing with, uh, conflicting thoughts. Every word you said was being engraved in my head, yet all I could think at that moment was ‘he is saying goodbye. He is going to die’ and I didn’t want to believe it, I didn't want to  _ accept  _ it, I _couldn't_.” Dean exhaled shakily and scratched the back of his neck, still not looking at Cas. 

“You poured your heart out, said things I have never been told before.” He smiled weakly. “You were the reason I didn’t kill Chuck… Did you know that? He was laying there on the ground, talking about how ‘Dean Winchester, the ultimate killer’, was going to end him... but uh, I remember what you said, and I knew that what he said wasn’t who I was.” Dean laughed nervously. “Anyway, what I’m trying to get here is, you said what you needed to say, you said your goodbyes, but  _ I  _ never got the chance to say mine. To answer you.” 

Dean paused and finally looked at Cas directly in the eyes. “You told me you love me, but I didn’t get to tell you: And I you, Cas.” 

Cas shifted and was staring at Dean with adoration. “Dean…” 

“You changed me too, you know?” he paused. “You told me the one thing you want is something you can’t have; how did you think you could not have it? You dumbass.” He smiled and gazed sideways for a second before looking back at his angel. “You gave me, the man with no faith, something to have faith in, something to believe in, in us. You are incredible in so many ways, how could I not want you? How could I not  _ love  _ you?” Dean blinked some tears away. “You are  _ it  _ for me, man, and I’m sorry it took me too long to say it.” He let out a shaky breath and shuddered. There, he did  _ it _ . He  _ said  _ it. 

“Dean.” Cas said in total and complete admiration, like saying his name was something sacred and a miracle wrapped in a prayer. His eyes were wide in awe and his body was frozen in place. He never let himself dare to entertain the mere idea that he could ever have him, and now here he was, reciprocating the feelings he had buried for 12 years. He was right, happiness was in just saying it, sure, but he was now experiencing the utter  _ joy  _ and pure elation of having. 

Dean grabbed him by the tie and leaned in to kiss him. He could feel himself smiling against Cas’ lips when he kissed back. They were in their own little world, their own happy bubble which is exactly why they did not hear Sam walk in.

Sam cleared his throat twice until Cas and Dean snapped back to reality and noticed him. They pulled apart, yet still close enough that they were holding hands. Dean looked like a deer in headlights when he saw Sam but didn't let go of Cas’ hand and held tighter. There was a ghost of a smile on the angel’s face. “Uh, hi?” Dean broke the silence between them.

“As much as I'm happy for you both that you finally got your shit together, that is not why I interrupted.” Sam’s face twitched. “We have a situation… I have to show you both something.” 

Dean and Cas shared a look, Sam looked nervous and startled which was enough to get their attention. Whatever it was, it seemed important. With a quick nod to Sam, they followed him out of the kitchen and towards the rooms.

“Okay so, I had just finished showering and was getting back to my room when I heard something coming from another room, like a clashing sound, and of course I went to see what it was.” Sam explained as he led the two men. Sam stopped outside what was formerly Jack’s room before he left, the door was almost closed completely but it was clear there was something inside. “Don’t freak out, and be quiet.”

Dean glared at him with a frown. “That really doesn't calm my nerves, what the  _ hell  _ is inside.” he pushed the door open. 

On the bed was a sleeping child, could not be more than three years old, wrapped in a cosy brown blanket, embroidered with the words ‘Jack Winchester’. The blanket was covering all of the kid’s body except for the face, where they could see the kid’s closed eyes and brown hair falling onto his forehead.

Both he and Cas saw him at the same time and froze at the sight of the child. They now understood why Sam wanted them to be quiet. “ _ What _ the  _ hell _ ?” Dean whispered loud enough for Cas and Sam to hear but not enough to wake the child. 

“Is that...” Cas began trying to formulate his question, his eyes were squinted as if he was thinking too hard trying to solve something. 

“Jack?” Sam finished his question for him “Yeah, that's him.”


	2. All About Jack

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of, a few parts of this chapter regarding Jack were inspired by [Lunmelia's post on tumblr](https://lunmelia.tumblr.com/post/636933983193759744/listen-i-know-that-jack-had-to-grow-up-fast)
> 
> This chapter is way longer than what i usually post, so don't expect 5k word chapters every time, nevertheless, I hope you enjoy it!

“What the fuck.” Dean stared at Sam like he had grown two heads. “Why is he so small?”

“He _is_ three years old.” Cas said as if that fact explained everything. 

“Yeah, I get that he is three, but why does he _look_ like he is three, and not, you know, his usual self.” Dean slightly raised his voice in panic, because seriously, what the hell.

“I do not know, but my guess is it appears fighting Chuck did take a toll after all.” Castiel frowned but his stare was fixated on the sleeping child, eyes gone soft at the sight of his kid. He had no idea what had happened, given that he was dead less than a day ago but he could guess, they would find out what happened to Jack eventually. They had to. 

“So what? Is this some sort of side effect for becoming God? Is he _even_ god anymore?” Dean frowned and tensed his jaw. He couldn’t help but blame himself. What happened to Jack might all be connected to their fight with Chuck. 

Cas stared at Jack for a few seconds and closed his eyes, trying to concentrate. Then he opened his eyes and stared at Dean. “He isn’t exactly god, but he isn’t _not_ god either.” 

“What the hell does that mean?” Dean raised his voice a tad too loud and Jack began stirring in his sleep. 

“We should continue this somewhere else.” Sam interrupted Dean and closed the door to the room with them outside. “I don’t know about you two, but I would prefer to have some answers before he wakes up.”

Cas and Dean agreed, and they all headed to the library, it was far enough for them that they could talk normally yet close enough to get to Jack’s room when he eventually woke up. Sam sat down in his usual chair by the table where he always does his research. Cas and Dean were standing up near the table looking towards Sam.

“Cas, what did you mean earlier?”

“I’m not sure, I tried sensing his power, like I did before, but it was different. Jack isn’t human, but he isn’t a full Nephilim either, there’s something else I can’t pinpoint, which is why I’m suspecting it’s his ‘god powers’ as you told me.”

“So what? A three-year-old has eternal power that can control the universe? Do we just wait till he has a tantrum, and the apocalypse starts again?” Dean huffed. “Isn't that great” he mumbled sarcastically. 

“He _does_ have powers, but they’re somewhat dormant I think. So, I doubt he will ‘start the apocalypse’ by throwing a tantrum.” Cas said thoughtfully. 

“Do you guys think he remembers anything when he wakes up? Will he remember us? Remember what happened? I mean, he has always been this age, maybe his brain is still like before?” Sam asked, running a hand through his hair then scratching his stubble. This should probably faze him more, but at this point he isn’t that surprised with how things turned out. This isn't the weirdest thing that happened to him in the last year alone, leave it to Winchester Luck for having to deal with situations like this. So, he was just treating this like a usual weekday, looking for information to figure out what to do. 

Dean inhaled sharply. He hadn’t thought about the possibility of Jack not remembering them. He looked at Cas, searching for answers. 

“He _could_ remember everything, but then again he could also _not_ remember anything and be a usual three-year-old.” Cas shrugged helplessly. 

“Well let’s hope this can be fixed.” Dean said before the three of them began their research in the library. 

Dean was thinking about Jack and the possible outcomes the whole time he was looking for answers. Thinking about all the possibilities that could happen from now on. It unnerved him to an extent, it wasn't that he hated the possibility of Jack being an actual three-year-old, he was good with kids and it wasn’t like it was the end of the world. But Jack being a toddler meant two main, very important things: Firstly, the old Jack, the one who knew them, would be gone and he would never be able to apologise for how he behaved with him during the last few days before he left, he would lose the kid he learnt to care for in the past few years and he was not sure he was ready for that. Secondly, if Jack was stuck as a kid it most likely meant it happened due to a side effect of fighting Chuck, and they should have known better than to think everything was over. 

He had to find a solution. For Jack’s sake he had to. 

They researched for about an hour and a half. Finding nothing useful. It was a long shot after all, it's not like there’s a guide on what to do when your Nephilim kid-turned-god gets de-aged. 

The three of them had discussed the possibility of Jack losing his powers and Chuck gaining them back, which could explain why they now had a kid sleeping a few rooms away. However, that scenario was not too likely since they were still alive. If Chuck had his powers back, they would all be dead by now for sure. 

They had to stop their research when Jack began to wake up. Cas was keeping an eye out for when he woke so if he didn't remember anything he wouldn't be confused and alone. 

Now that he was waking up it was time to find out just how much he remembered. 

Cas went in first, being an angel and all, he had the more chances of coming out unscathed if Jack didn’t remember him and tried to use his Nephilim mojo if he still even had it. 

He knocked on the door and waited until Jack saw him. 

The toddler rubbed his eyes with his tiny hands and yawned. When he heard the knock on the door, he groggily looked towards it and once he saw Cas his face lit with joy and any trace of sleepiness disappeared. 

“Cas!” He squealed and hopped off his bed, running towards him and hugging his leg because he wasn’t big enough to hug him entirely. 

Cas was shocked he remembered him, and he knelt down, smiling awkwardly yet fondly at the kid. “Hey, Jack. How are you?” 

Jack grinned. “‘m good!”

“What happened to you?” He tilted his head. 

“Whdya mean?” Jack stared at him with his too-big-for-his-face eyes. 

Cas pursed his lips and tried to ask as nicely as possible. “What do you remember of the past few days? Do you know who Sam and Dean are?”

Jack giggled. “You’re funny. Of course I know who they are.” At the mention that he knew who they were, Dean and Sam entered the room and smiled at the kid. “Dee! Sam!” He went to hug them both. 

Dean smiled and automatically knelt down so when the kid hugged him, he could hug him back. “Hey, kid.” He picked him up and held him while he spoke. “What do you remember from yesterday?” 

Jack did a thinking face and tapped his little finger against his chin. “Hmmm.” He thought out loud and shrugged. “What’s a yesterday?” 

Dean and Sam shared a look and kept themselves from frowning. “Yesterday means the day before today. What did you do then?” Dean asked with a grin and fake enthusiasm. 

Jack shrugged. “Prob’ly read with Sam.” 

Sam’s face twitched. “Do you remember Chuck?”

Jack thought for a second and he frowned. “No uh… that mean I’m in trouble?”

They didn’t need any other confirmation to know that Jack did not remember any of the past few years. He somehow remembered them three, which was a good thing, but he didn’t remember anything else. 

“No kiddo, you’re not in trouble.” Dean smiled and ticked him which made him giggle and forget about the serious conversation of a few seconds ago. Thank god for short attention spans. 

“Can I get a-a nougat?” Jack asked and poked Dean in the cheek. 

“Let’s get some real food in you and then Cas can take you for some candy.” Dean told him. He then carried him to the kitchen, followed by Sam and Cas. 

Dean then passed Jack to Cas so he and Sam could entertain him while Dean cooked something for the kid. They didn’t have much food that a toddler would eat but it would have to do. He made Jack some scrambled eggs and bacon. 

While he cooked Sam and Cas talked to Jack, which meant mostly listening to him mumble about Star Wars and nougat. 

Dean made a mental note to later on think about how the kid seemed to remember a few things from the past, like watching star wars and knowing them, but not the main events . He also noted that he needed to go for a supply run sooner rather than later so that Jack could have clothes and toys appropriate for his age. 

It had been a long time since Dean had to take care of a kid, but he basically parented Sam when they were kids, so it was second nature for him. He would just have to remember the basics, just like riding a bike, right?

Jack ate through his food with no complaints, which Dean was silently thankful for, he remembered how Sam had been a picky eater as a kid and he really did not want to deal with a kid tantrum today. It was getting late, he hadn’t slept at all, and after the day he had, he _needed_ to rest. 

So many things happened in so little time that he could not quite believe he had fought Chuck only yesterday. In about only twenty-four hours he had fought God, won, his kid became god, then proceeded to drink his day away because Cas was gone, Cas came back, he confessed his feelings for him, and now Jack was turned into a toddler. 

Fortunately for him, Dean was used to apocalyptic-level problems so he could deal with this. Lost in thought, he missed when the conversation was turned to him until he realised three pairs of eyes were looking at him. 

Jack was smiling at him, clearly waiting for a response to whatever he had asked. Sam was trying to get his attention and Cas was looking at him with worry. 

“You alright, Dean?”

Dean nodded dumbly and his brain caught up. “Yeah, I’m fine. Long day.” He told Cas and then turned his attention to the child. “Sorry, I was thinking about something. What did you want to tell me?” 

“Can we get my nougat now?”

Dean looked at his watch and saw it was already half past ten. He really did not want to deal with a sugar-energised Nephilim this late. “I’ll tell you what, you wait until tomorrow and we can go to the store and get you _two_ nougats.”

“Two?” Jack asked with wide eyes. 

“Yes, two.” Cas chimed in. “And we can get the lucky charms cereal too.” He said seriously with a glint of a smile. 

Jack gasped and started bouncing. “Yes! yes! yes!” 

The rest of the night passed by. Between the three adults it only took them about an hour to get the kid to sleep, which was an actual success given how Jack had slept half the afternoon. 

Cas volunteered to watch over Jack while the two of them got their much-needed rest. Dean smiled gratefully and gave a peck to Cas before going to his room to sleep. 

For the first time in a long, long time, Dean fell asleep with a smile on his face. He didn’t remember a time when he felt this happy and safe. He saved the world, he had his brother, and he got his angel back. What more could he ask for? He pushed away the thoughts telling him it would not last long, it never did, but for once, he believed everything was going to be alright. 

_____

Next morning went by a little too hectic and too domestic for Dean. He woke up around nine, thankfully Cas had entertained Jack with random Bee facts that Jack kept asking about since 5 in the morning which gave Dean more time to sleep. Once he woke up, and remembered he was now in charge of a toddler, so he cooked up some food and got ready for the rest of the day. 

They needed to split up and go shopping. All signs so far pointed to Jack staying a kid, and the bunker was absolutely not meant to have kids in it. So, Sam was going to go buy materials to somewhat babyproof the bunker and grocery shopping. (Because “no Dean you are not going grocery shopping for jack, kids need vegetables and a varied diet. You’re just going to buy the tasty stuff, so he likes you.”) While Dean and Cas went to buy Jack some extra pairs of clothes and some room decorations. 

Sam took one of the cars from the garage while Dean and Cas took the impala. Cas went in the back with Jack, in case anything happened because they did not have a car seat yet. 

First stop was the grocery store, not for the actual grocery shopping but for the promised nougats. Dean parked the car while Cas and Jack headed inside. Jack was holding Cas’ finger with his whole hand and happily talked to him as they walked. Cas had asked if he wanted to be carried but he just shook his head and said he wanted to walk for now. 

Dean caught up to them at the front of the store and clapped his hands. “Alright, let's make this quick. We go get the nougat, and then we leave, sound good?” He looked both at Jack and Cas. They both nodded. 

“Nougats _and_ lucky charms.” Jack reminded them and Dean chuckled. 

Luckily for them, there weren't many people and they managed to get the chocolate and cereal fairly quickly. Afterwards, they headed to the mall—in which Dean had rarely stepped foot in one— to get the kid some clothes. When he was a kid, he would go to thrift shops to get clothes when his own became too small for him. He usually went when John was on a hunt so he wouldn’t have any problems. Meanwhile Sam usually got hand me downs. 

However, Dean could get Jack something better than he got, so he took them to the mall, even if he hated it. (All because there were just too many metal detectors, so he had to leave his weapons in the car.) They entered a kid’s store and they felt so out of place, if Cas’ face was anything to go by. Dean wanted to smile, the angel of the lord, who had fought against apocalyptic beings, looked scared of a kid’s store. He stared at him lovingly until Jack pulled their hands with his own so he could explore the store. 

Dean felt he was trapped in hell all over again, since time felt eternal there, but it was fine because Jack was loving finding new clothes. Jack wanted to buy some jeans, plain cotton shirts and a brownish-beige jacket. It was too similar to what he wore when he had been grown up. Dean noted it as another clue that there was still some Past Jack in the kid. He was still _their_ Jack. 

Cas saw a shirt with a bee on it that said. ‘Don’t worry be happy’ but instead of the word ‘be’ there was a picture of a cartoon bee in the middle of the shirt. Which he absolutely loved and bought for Jack. Dean did not have the heart to tell Cas that Jack should pick his own clothes, he had to admit. It _was_ adorable. 

Jack picked a few more outfits that varied from multiple styles until he was satisfied with his collection and informed the two adults that he was ready to leave. Cas smiled at the kid’s enthusiasm and picked him up while Dean got the bundle of clothes they were going to pay for. Both of them walked to the cashier line. 

“Where we going next?” Jack asked and rested his head on Cas's shoulder. 

“I believe we have to get you a car seat.” He answered and looked at Dean with a glint of humour in his eyes. “It sure will be a sight to see a car seat in _the_ impala.” 

Dean snorted. “That’s going to be a first for my baby, in all the years she has existed I don’t think there’s ever been a car seat there. Dad would probably have a fit about it, complaining about how it would damage the seats or something.” His eyes flickered with surprise the moment he realised how much he had changed. He was sure a few years back he would too, throw a fit for anything remotely damaging the impala, he remembered back when he didn’t even let Sam put an iPad in it and now, he wasn’t even batting an eye to an upgrade for his car. He smiled and ruffled the kid’s hair. 

“Didn’t Sam have a car seat when you were kids?” Cas frowned. 

Dean shifted on his feet and plastered a fake smile. “Nah, Dad would be pissed if the car seat damaged the car by leaving dents on the seats, so he never got us one.” He shrugged off. “He got me to take care of him when we were on the road.” Their conversation died out as they advanced through the checkout line. He was lost in thought, remembering when he was about six, him sitting in the back of the impala with a two-year-old Sammy sitting on his lap because he was too tiny for the seat belt to cover him if he sat by himself. 

A middle-aged woman formed in line behind them and smiled at Jack in Cas’ arms, who was playing with his tie. “What a lovely kid, how old is he?” She asked Cas, who wasn’t a fan of having to interact with people. 

Before Cas could answer Jack put three fingers up. “Am three.” He exclaimed happily which put a smile on both Cas and Dean. “Just like my dads.”

Dean raised his eyebrows in amusement and hid a laugh. “We’re a little older than that, buddy.” 

“No!” Jack pouted. “am three... and... and..” he was quiet for a second, thinking of his next choice of words now that they didn’t understand him. “And many dads.” He decided that explained everything. 

The woman had a crinkle in her eyes and was chuckling at the antics of the kid. “These your dads’?” She asked him. 

“Yeah.” Jack nodded vigorously, Dean looked shocked he called them his dads, he felt a warm fuzzy feeling inside. “but not all of them.” He said after a moment. 

The woman exaggerated her surprise face. “Oh? How many dads do you have?” 

Jack put his three fingers up again and exclaimed. “ _Three_ dads.” He pointed to Dean and Cas. “Dee, Cas, and Sam, he’s _very_ tall, but he isn’t here.” Jack pouted for a quick second. 

“Taller than these two? Wow, must be a big guy.” The woman told him with a grin. 

Jack nodded and stage-whispered. “He is!” 

Dean chuckled nervously and explained to the woman. “Sammy’s my brother, he helps us with him all the time.” 

“Well, you know what they say... it takes a village to raise a child.” The woman told Dean. “And by the looks of it you two are doing a great job with him, he is such a cutie.” She paused and showed them a picture on her phone of a small child, couldn’t be more than two, with a woman holding her. “That’s my daughter, Ruth and my wife, Emily.” 

“She looks very happy.” Dean smiled at the picture, softened gaze. 

By then the line had advanced enough that it was Dean’s turn to check out, so they said their goodbyes to the woman, and paid for the clothes before leaving the store. 

Still in the mall, they walked around looking for stores to buy a car seat so they could leave. Cas was still carrying Jack with one arm while Dean carried the four bags full of clothing. It took them about five minutes of wandering around to find the store and it only took them forty minutes deciding which car seat to buy. Dean had gone on an interrogation with the worker, asking every safety measure of each brand of car seats to make sure they were buying the right one for Jack. Cas was confused half the time because “I don’t understand, Dean, they all have the same purpose, why are they different?” Finally, Dean decided on one and they finally went home. 

Sam was already there when they arrived, he informed them the groceries were already put away and now he was organising the materials he bought to baby proof the bunker. He retold the story of how the cashier was looking at him weird for buying so many child locks. 

After dinner they managed to put Jack to bed way quicker than the day before since he was exhausted after the long day he had. Now that the kid was asleep, it still gave them a few hours to see if they could find out more about how and why Jack got turned into a toddler. They knew better than to leave ‘well enough’ alone. If they didn’t find why it had happened, it would come to bite them in the ass sooner or later, as it always did. 

The hours went by quickly and after finding absolutely nothing on their problem they decided to call it a night. Sam went to his room to facetime Eileen while Dean and Cas used the ‘Dean Cave’ to watch a movie. 

The next day they spent it baby proofing the bunker. They had a schedule in which two of them would be working while the other one kept an eye on Jack. They were mildly aware three-year olds could go without supervision for a small time, but they didn’t want to take any chances. All it takes is Jack wandering to a dangerous part of the bunker by himself for problems to follow. So, they were keeping him within close watch. 

First, Cas stayed with Jack in his room. Sam had bought Jack a few colouring supplies which he was using while Cas accompanied him and chatted with. He asked a few questions, to see what Jack remembered from the past few years since sometimes, he said something that was beyond his years but then two seconds later he acted like a fully three-year-old. 

Cas concluded that Jack was still their Jack but with slightly less memories and the motor and language abilities of a three-year-old. 

By the time Sam switched with Cas to look out for Jack, they had already child-proof-lock the dungeon, the garage and the storage room. Now it would be impossible for the kid to open the doors without an adult present. 

Sam didn’t spend his time colouring with Jack due to the kid asking him to read him a book the moment he saw him. Jack said he was tired and wanted a story. He was adamant on listening to The Hobbit. 

So that's how they passed the time, Sam sitting on the floor against the wall with Jack sitting on his legs and a book in hand. 

By the time it was Dean’s turn to take care of Jack while the bunker was being updated, they had already finished putting Child locks in all the necessary rooms and were doing an entire sweep of the bunker, putting away any weapons that could catch Jack’s attention. They didn’t store them, just moved them so they were accessible if needed but way out of reach. 

Dean spent his time with Jack running after him in the bunker. He wanted to explore the place and Dean couldn’t say no, so he followed after him as Jack ran with his little legs, almost tripping as he ran. 

They made it to the garage and Jack asked to go inside and see all the cars, so Dean unlocked the door, and they went inside. The only car Jack recognised was the impala, so he ran towards it and tried to get in. Dean hesitated before opening the door and letting him play inside. Jack was looking through the back of the car, looking for trinkets when he spotted the carvings inside the car’s door. 

Jack traced the carvings with his finger and looked at Dean with a frown. “What’s this?” 

“That’s me and Sammy’s initials, here,” he pointed at one of the carvings, “it says SW, that stands for Sam Winchester, and over there,” he pointed at the carving right next to it, “its DW,”

“For Dee’ Winchester.” Jack’s eyes widened in awe. “Why is Cas not there?”

Dean chuckled at the kid and ruffled his hair. “Well, we did those when Sam and I were kids, we didn’t know Cas yet.” 

Jack hummed and poked the carvings again. “He should have his name.” He decided and waited for Dean’s reply. 

Dean pondered for a minute. “You know what? You’re right.” He pulled his pocket knife. “Where should we add him?” 

Jack squinted and tilted his head. “There, up next to yours.” He said seriously. 

Dean chuckled. “Looks good to me.” He began carving a C with the knife. He was concentrating in making it just right while Jack sat there in silence staring at the carving in progress in awe. 

Dean decided to write ‘Cas’ instead of his initial or full name, it seemed fitting. So, after he carefully did the ‘C’ he began carving the ‘A’. It wasn’t as quick as he first thought, with having to carve it _and_ take care of the kid at the same time, but it wasn’t too difficult. After about five more minutes he had ‘CAS’ spelled out a bit higher than his own initials were on the inside of the door. 

Jack was smiling, looking accomplished with himself. 

“So, where do you want your name?” Dean asked after a few moments. 

Jack blinked at him slowly. “I can be there too?” He was hopeful. 

“Of course! You’re part of the family, it's only right your name is there. Since this is the most important car in existence.” Dean pushed his sleeves up his elbows and looked at the carved door of his impala. “So? Where do you want your name?”

Jack giggled and pointed at a spot under Sam’s initials and near Dean’s. “There.”

“Good choice.” Dean began carving the ‘J’. 

“This really the most important car in all Esis-exist-”

“Existence?” Dean supplied the word. 

“Yeah.” 

“Well, this was my dad’s car, a long time ago. And this was my home as a kid ever since I was a little older than you are now.” Dean said, he paused for a few seconds to get the details of the ‘J’ correctly as he carved. “It’s my car now, been with us forever, when we saved the world.” He tried to keep his explanation PG. he really did not want to explain the nightmares that was his life to a three-year-old, even if said three-year-old lived through some of it. He finished carving the ‘A’. 

“You’re heroes.” Jack said as if he was stating a fact. “I know that!” He said with the excitement that only a toddler could have. 

Dean stopped carving the ‘C’ and looked at Jack quizzically. “And _how_ do you know that?” Could he be remembering what happened? 

Jack shrugged. “I don’t know, I jus’ know it.” 

“Huh.” Dean didn’t say anything else until he finished carving the name. Once he was finished, he leaned back to see the four names on the impala’s door. Now ‘JACK’ was added, and he smiled. “Aha! It's done!” 

Jack poked his name and traced it a few times with his finger, then squealed and jumped to hug Dean. “I really, really, _really_ like it!” He paused for a second. “Can we go explore some more?”

“Sure, buddy.” Dean helped Jack out of the back of the impala and watched him run from the garage to who knows where else. Dean was getting tired, but he wasn’t complaining. Sure, raising a kid was not a simple job and left him exhausted but he would choose this to hunting and get exhausted fighting big evils. With a deep breath he strutted after the very energetic toddler. 

An hour later, Sam and Cas found them both on the Dean Cave, Dean sitting on his recliner with Jack cuddled in his arms, both fast asleep while the TV played scooby doo. 

____

They spent the next three days checking that the bunker was safe for Jack to wander around in the future, well, as safe as they could make it. 

Once they were finally satisfied with their work, they decided to take a rest and open a few beers while they gave Jack some ice cream. But first, they were going to take a much-needed shower. They decided to hang out in the kitchen, having a table nearby and the freezer at hands reach, made it the best place to hang out. 

While Cas got the beers out to take them to the brothers he was lost in thought. The last time they were all happy, enjoying life had been back when Jack was grown up and Chuck wasn’t their greatest threat. It had been a long time since they could take a break like this. He was committing every second to memory, enjoying their rare day without any stress and world-dooming situations, hopefully he would have more of these days in the future to come. 

He got the beers right as Sam walked in, hair still damp from the shower. Dean came in the kitchen, coming from the opposite direction. “I could really use a break, you two ready?” 

“Yes. I was just grabbing the beers and was about to look for you guys.” Cas replied, handing Dean a beer. “Where’s Jack?” he noticed that neither Sam nor Dean seemed to be with him at the moment and he began to worry.

“He’s fine, I left him playing in his room while I went to check on you two, I’m sure five minutes of unsupervised playtime will not end the world.” Dean told them and unscrewed his beer. “Rooms aren't that far away; do you think if I call for him from here, he will hear me?”

Sam shrugged. “Probably, but does he know the way?”

“He should, it's just one corridor.” Dean cleared his throat and raised his voice so that Jack could hear him. “Hey Jack! We’re down by the kitchen wanna come hang with us? There’s ice cream!”

They waited a few seconds and heard a very distant, yet energetic squeal. “Yes!!”

Dean chuckled and decided he was going to go get Jack from his room when they heard a ruffle of wings and saw Jack standing on top of the table with a grin. “Where’s the ice cream?”

The three adults stare at Jack in deafening silence, blinking slowly at the kid. 

“Did he just--” Sam trailed off, still processing Jack flew into the room, quite literally. 

“Yes. Yes, he did.” Cas answered, stunned with the turn of events. 

“The kid can fly.” Dean stated and tried to chuckle, but it sounded more like a huff. “We just spent three days babyproofing the entire bunker, and he could fly through the rooms if he wanted this entire time.” he snorted. “This is just peachy...” he said sarcastically.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Here](https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/751311847378124871/798597501736583178/SW_DW_CAS_JACK_art.png?width=742&height=406) is a picture of the impala with the additional carvingsif the one in the fic did not load for you. 
> 
> What did you guys think? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments! Next chapter is almost done, I am very excited to have it ready! Here's a hint for the next chapter: Someone from their found family will be making an appearance, any thoughts as to who? :D
> 
> Also I want to thank those who commented in my last chapter, it was because of them that this chapter came out so soon after the first since it gave me motivation to finish it. :D  
> Have an amazing day!


	3. Eileen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is one of my favourite chapters I've written so far, I hope y'all enjoy it!
> 
> This is not beta read so I apologise for any typos or mistakes.

They watched as Jack sat happily by the table eating his ice cream. “We’re just getting used to the idea of raising Jack as a kid and now we found out that he can fly, because apparently _someone_ forgot to mention it.” Dean looked at Cas with a raised eyebrow, waiting for an answer.

“I didn’t ‘ _forget’_ to mention it. His wings were not visible, he must have hidden them.” Cas replied, annoyed. 

“So what? If he has his wings back, does he still have his powers? Didn't you say they were dormant?” Sam scratched his stubble and glanced at Jack. 

“It’s possible.” Cas was thoughtful. “If he does have his powers back it means this was definitely not Chuck’s doing, so we don’t have to worry about that. But it does bring the question, if he still has his powers why is he a child?” 

“Doesn’t matter why at the moment,” Dean spoke up. “Right now, we work with what we got, we know the kid is Jack, we know he has his wings and possibly powers, we work with that until we find something else.” 

Cas and Sam gave him a curt nod and turned their attention back to Jack, who had just finished his ice cream. “Hey Jack?” Sam questioned and made his way to the table, sitting next to the kid. “Do you fly around the bunker a lot?” 

“Not really, just to get places faster.” Jack shrugged. 

“I see...” Sam pursed his lips and his jaw twitched. “Cas here tells me you have been hiding your wings? Any reason you don’t want us to know you had them?”

Jack blinked owlishly at him and furrowed his brow. “You and Dee don’t have wings, and Cas keeps his away.” He shrugged. “I was trying to be like you.”

They couldn’t help but smile at the adorable response. The kid was too pure for the world. Jack didn’t notice their expressions and pushed his ice cream bowl aside, getting down from the seat. 

“Where are you going, buddy?” Dean asked. 

“I want to get back to drawing.” Jack shrugged. 

“Okay, just don’t-” Dean couldn’t finish his sentence as Jack disappeared from the kitchen in a blink of an eye. “Fly there...” he sighed and rested his head on Cas’ shoulder. “I’m too old for this.” He groaned. 

Taking care of a kid he could do, he did it as a kid with Sam, but now, a good three, almost four decades later, it was different. Taking care of kids took a lot of energy, which, living on the hunt gave him the needed abilities to deal with a child; but a super-powered-Nephilim kid? Yeah, he had no idea how he was going to make that work.

Sam’s mouth twitched into an almost smile. “Dramatic much?” He said and Dean raised his head from Cas’ shoulder to send him a death glare. “Okay, I admit this just got more complex, but we can deal with it. We’ve gone against _the_ literal Biblical Apocalypse, multiple times, and God. I think we can manage Jack.” 

“Easier said than done.” Dean said. “How are we going to do it?”

Sam shrugged. “We got Cas and his mojo back, your mother hen instincts, the internet at our disposal and a lot of time, we’ll figure it out.” Dean gave him a bitch face at the mother hen comment, but he didn’t respond to it. 

“Sam is right, when he puts it like that it doesn’t sound as bad.” Cas was thoughtful. “We should probably try to explain to Jack why he should not fly around unless he is with an adult, until he grows more in order to avoid accidents.”

“You think he would listen to us?” Sam raised his eyebrow. 

“I think so, yes. Toddlers are at an age where they’re more understanding of the world, if we can explain it to him in simple words, he might listen to us.” Cas said seriously. 

“When did you become a child encyclopaedia?” Dean chuckled. 

“Before Jack was born and Kelly told me to take care of him. I read some books on how to raise him. It was around the time I learned they pooped a lot, so I acquired a whole truck of diapers, which didn’t turn out so useful since he was born all grown up.” Cas said-all matter of factly.

Dean smiled softly and looked down for a second before patting Cas on the back. “Yeah well, I say we skipped the hardest part because the book you read is right, Cas. Babies do poop a lot and cry a lot, Nephilims would probably cry and go super high pitch or something. So, I say we got lucky.” He half joked. 

Cas gave a hum of acknowledgment. “So, what’s the plan?” 

Dean shrugged. “I say we play it by ear, try talking to the kid and take the next couple of days to see what his powers are and how to deal with it. And until we know how much juiced up mojo the kid has, he should not leave the bunker. It’s safer to be us three, in case something happens.”

Castiel gave a curt nod in agreement but Sam pulled a face and his jaw twitched as if he was biting down something to say. 

“Sam?” Dean turned to face him, both eyebrows raised up. “Something you want to share with the class?” He said sarcastically. 

“Well... this probably isn’t the best moment to tell you, but Eileen is coming over soon.” Sam said sheepishly and shrugged. 

Cas frowned. “How soon?”

“Soon, soon? Like, tomorrow.” Sam saw Dean’s glare and he tried to explain. “Okay, I was going to tell you before she arrived, after we finished baby proofing the bunker, I thought it would be fine. And before you ask, yes, she knows about Jack being a kid. She won't tell anyone though.”

Dean huffed. “Okay, okay.” He said more to himself than to the others. “Well, this just changes our plans, again. Not like this doesn’t always happen.” 

“So… you’re okay with this?” Sam questioned. 

“Yeah. I mean, it’s Eileen we’re talking about.” Dean shrugged as if it was no big deal and patted Sam on the back as he walked out. “I’ll go check on Jack.”

_______

“Hey, Jack.” Dean knocked on his door as he walked in, letting him know he was there. “What are you drawing over there?”

“A snake.” He proudly showed a piece of paper, with a lot of colourful, squiggly lines. 

Dean smiled at it and sat down next to Jack, who was sitting cross-legged at the end of the bed with his bucket of colouring supplies sprawled all over. “Looking good, kid.” 

Jack smiled proudly and continued drawing. 

They sat quietly for about a minute until Dean spoke up. “So, I know you’re used to having Cas, Sam, and me around, but tomorrow a friend is coming over to stay a few days.”

Jack stopped drawing and looked at him. “So, there’s going to be more people?”

Dean nodded. “Yup” he said, popping the ‘p’ sound. “That alright with you?” 

Jack squinted at him and in that moment, Dean could not help but think how much this kid resembled Cas. “Do I know who’s comin’?” 

Dean thought about it, he was sure grown-up Jack knew about Eileen, but he only realised until now that he had never actually met her. Always something came up with Jack when she visited. “No, buddy, I don’t think you’ve met her. But you might know of her. Her name is Eileen, Sam’s girlfriend.” 

“Girlfriend?” He enquired. “That means Sam is together with her? Like you and Cas?” 

“Kind of, yeah,” 

“Okay.” Jack grabbed his pencil again and began colouring. 

Dean was about to stand up to leave, when he remembered. “Oh yeah, Jack. You know how we put all the new things around the bunker, right?” Jack nodded so Dean continued. “That was to keep you safe and so you don’t enter those rooms. But that doesn’t stop you from flying there, which is why I need to tell you, you can’t go flying around whenever you want, okay?” 

Jack frowned. “Why not?” 

“It’s dangerous.”

“Why?”

“Because there’s some things that can only be used for grownups, so you don’t get into trouble or hurt.” Dean really did not want to even think about what would happen if the kid got his hands on a Men of Letters weapon. 

“But-”

“Sorry kid, you can’t fly around without Cas being there.”

“Why?”

Dean sighed. He forgot how much kids questioned everything at that age. He was almost as bad as Sammy, except Sammy only kept asking more and more questions as he grew up. “Because he can help you if you end up in trouble. He can fly too.”

Jack pouted. “Okaaay.” He sighed and went back to drawing. Now that he had finished his snake, he got a blank piece of paper. 

Dean pursed his lips and stood up, leaving towards his room. “Well, that could have gone worse.” He muttered to himself with a sigh. 

____

Sam woke up early, as he usually does, and made sure to make breakfast for him and Jack. Eileen had texted him she would be arriving around midday, so he made sure to have everything ready. 

He hadn’t seen her since she was vanished by Chuck, and to be honest, he missed her and was looking forward to seeing her again. He hadn’t had time to see her after everything happened; after she came back, Dean was not in a state to be left alone with Cas being gone and then when he came back and Sam began planning to drive to see her, Jack appeared as a child, so he had to keep postponing it. 

Of course, he still talked to her every night. They would facetime so she could see Sam sign and read his lips, and if they were too tired, they would text. Sam told her vaguely about what had happened, but he didn’t want to explain it over text. Texts could be easily hacked, and he really did not want information that they had a kid who was possibly now god. If that information fell into the wrong hands people would go after Jack. Sam didn’t want that to happen. So, they kept the information to a minimum. 

The morning went down fast, Cas and Sam managed to take care of Jack without waking Dean up so he could get a few more hours of sleep. Dean had grumbled about how he could live with his four hours and they should have woken him up if Jack needed something, but Cas just told him they had it covered and Dean deserved to sleep good for once. 

Cas had said it with such conviction that he had no other choice but to agree with him. This new life? It was so bizarre, but Dean could absolutely get used to it. It had been a week where he hadn’t had to fight for his or his loved ones lives, where he woke up with Cas by his side and a happy family. 

By the time Eileen arrived, Dean was already awake and had his morning coffee. Sam was waiting by the main entrance for a text letting him know she had arrived while Jack was watching a movie with Dean and Cas. 

As soon as she got there, Sam engulfed her in a hug that she returned with the same level of enthusiasm. It was a rather long hug, but both of them needed it after what they had been through. 

“It’s so good to see you.” Sam pulled away from the hug so he could sign the words as he said them so Eileen could see. He had the biggest smile on his face. “I am so glad you are okay.” He signed. 

“I am glad you are too.” She grinned. “You are getting better at signing.” She moved her hands, signing the words as she spoke. 

Sam laughed. “I’ve been practicing in my spare time.”

Eileen looked at him lovingly then her eyes went sharp. “Care to tell me what exactly is going on? I get why you don’t want to explain it over the phone, but now I’m here. You barely explained what happened to Chuck, and that Jack is a kid.” She raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms, waiting for an explanation. 

“I know, and I’ll explain.” He motioned for her to come in, since they had been standing tight after the entrance and he thought it would be better if she made herself comfortable before the whole explanation. He touched her arm, so she turned to look at him while they walked. “Do you want something to drink?” He signed. 

Eileen nodded. “A beer would be good.” 

After getting a beer each, they made their way to the library where Sam explained to her everything that went on with Chuck after he made everyone but him, Dean and Jack disappear. He told her how they defeated Chuck with Jack’s help and how he became god. 

He was currently explaining to her what had happened after they found Jack as a literal toddler when they were spooked by a voice. 

“Why are you moving your hands like that?” Jack was standing a few feet away from where they were sitting. 

Sam glanced at Eileen with raised eyebrows and glanced back at Jack, as to tell her ‘this is what I was telling you about.’ “Hey, Jack. What are you doing here?” He said cheerfully. “I thought you were with Dean and Cas?” 

“I was, but I came to find you.” He looked at Eileen and squinted. “Is this your girlfriend.” 

Sam chuckled and nodded. “Yes, this is Eileen.” He told him and waited to see if there was any spark of recognition on the kid’s face. They hadn’t met but grown-up Jack knew about her, but apparently toddler Jack did not remember her. He wondered if he didn’t remember anyone he didn’t meet personally? He would have to research that later. 

Eileen smiled at the kid. “Hello, Jack.” 

“Hello.” He raised his arm with an open hand without waving it as he used to do. 

Before anyone could say anything, Dean ran through the door, gun in hand, out of breath and as soon as he laid eyes on Jack he breathed out, putting his gun away and turning his head out the door and yelling. “Cas! I found him!” Dean pointed his finger at Jack. “Don’t do that again.” He noticed the rest of the people in the room and flashed Eileen a smile. “Hi, Eileen, it's good to see you.”

Sam frowned at the sight before him until he realised what happened and his expression tensed. “Jack, did you fly here?” 

Jack shifted on his spot and nodded shyly. 

Cas appeared at that moment and stared at Jack with a long, tired sigh. “Jack... Dean told you, you cannot fly without my permission. You can’t disappear like that.” 

“I just came to see Sam.” He said it as if it explained everything. “And Dee said that I couldn’t fly without you being there, and you were there with us.”

Sam snorted at his response and Eileen stifled a laugh herself. Dean took a deep breath and asked for the universe or something for some patience.

“He is _not_ wrong.” Cas mumbled and Dean shot him a look. 

Dean walked towards Jack and knelt down to be at his level. “Look, when I said you couldn’t fly without Cas being there, I did not mean you could fly whenever you wanted when Cas was nearby. You have to tell him you want to fly, and he has to agree to it. Okay?” He said seriously, trying to explain to him as clearly as he could. 

Jack pursed his mouth to the side and nodded. “Okaaay.” He agreed. “Can I stay here with Sam?” 

Dean looked at Sam in silent question, he knew his brother was catching up with his girlfriend and he probably wanted some space. Sam, however, didn’t seem to mind and after asking Eileen and her silently agreeing, he nodded to Dean. 

“Okay, you can stay with them. But no flying away, okay?” Dean looked at Jack in the eyes, waiting for his nod. 

Once Jack promised he would be nice and on his best behaviour, Dean stood up to go with Cas while Jack climbed onto Sam’s lap with his help. 

“You two go, have some alone time, I got him for the afternoon.” Sam told them as he picked up Jack. 

After they left Jack began chatting with Sam and Eileen, it took him an entire twenty seconds to notice the signing again. “Why do you move your hands like that?” 

“I can't hear like you do, so to be able to talk without hearing, we use Sign Language to communicate. It’s like talking without noises.” She explained. She wasn’t the best with kids, but she liked Jack. It wasn’t the best explanation, but she wanted to keep it simple so the three-year-old could understand. 

“Oh.” Jack furrowed his brows as he thought. “Wait...How can you know what I’m sayin’ if you can’t listen to me talk?” 

Sam looked down at him with fondness and Eileen explained. “I can read lips. But only when you are staring at me, if not Sam usually translates for me.” 

Jack blinked and went wide eyed. “Cooool!” He wiggled in his seat excitedly. “Can you teach me?”

Sam was about to tell Jack that maybe some other time since she just got here but she beat him to it. “Absolutely. But know that you can’t learn all in one day, it will take time.”

“I understand.” He said seriously. 

And that’s how Jack spent the whole afternoon, sitting criss-crossed on the couch, facing both Sam and Eileen, looking at every sign and explanation, soaking all the information like a sponge. He was putting more attention than a normal three-year-old could manage and it seemed he was learning fast. 

By the time he had to go to bed because he was yawning too much, he managed to sign ‘goodnight’ before he was too sleepy to be carried to bed. 

__________

“Are you alright, Dean?” They had left Jack with Sam and Eileen and they were back at the Dean Cave, TV now turned off, Dean pouring himself a glass of whisky and sitting down on his seat, sighing. Cas of course noticed something was worrying Dean, so he asked about it. 

Dean was going to tell him he was fine automatically, as that was his go-to response. But instead of answering in that second, he contemplated the question before responding. “I’m alright, just, worried?” Dean wasn’t sure how to explain it, but he tried. 

“Worried about what? There isn’t a world threat hanging over our heads, and I don’t think things have been bad lately.” Cas asked with genuine concern. 

“I know, I know.” Dean sighed. “That’s exactly why I’m restless, I think. I feel like all my life, I’ve been fighting to survive, one way or another, to protect Sammy, to save Dad, to save the world, to save the world _again_. It’s always one catastrophe after another, I never had time to think about stuff, there was always something more important…” Dean took a sip from his drink and trailed off. 

Cas stayed quiet, but listening intently, waiting for Dean to continue. He knew Dean wasn’t one to talk about his feelings but after all that happened, he was making an effort in healing from everything, unfortunately for Dean, healing included talking about his emotions, which wasn’t something he was fond of. 

“Now, I just keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. I’m just waiting for the moment that everything goes wrong. I have _lost_ so much... and now that I have everything I would ever dream of; I can’t have it taken away. I don’t think I could handle it anymore.” He took a deep breath. “When Jack disappeared from us earlier, I acted on instinct, I immediately thought he was taken and was ready to fight… It was only until I saw him with Sam that my brain even came to the conclusion that he flew out on his own.” Dean let out a shaky breath. 

Dean was always looking after Sam when he was a kid. Sure, back then the threats were unthinkable, Dean had to protect him from what he knew was lurking in the dark. He never imagined there was anything more dangerous than some werewolves or ghosts back then.

Now, after everything he lived through, he had many, _many_ dangerous enemies, and he knew the tragedies and unfairness of the world firsthand. It was way harder taking care of a kid, especially Jack, with his past history, knowing what he knows now. 

He had tried ignoring that since the first moment Jack was placed into their bunker as a kid, he told himself that it was fine now, that it was okay. Yet, when Jack disappeared from his sight, he couldn’t deal with all the thoughts and concerns that came popping in his brain, thinking that he was going to regret ever putting his guard down for the rest of his life if something had happened to him. 

“Oh, Dean,” Cas placed a hand on top of his and looked at him in the eye. “You’ve always put the weight on the world on your shoulders, which to some extent, you did. However, you don’t have to anymore. What happens with the world is not your responsibility anymore, you’re not a soldier, you can let yourself be happy.” 

“But-”

“No, listen to me. Chuck is _gone_. I have made sure of it. It wasn’t him that changed Jack, he doesn’t have an ounce of power. He is living his short, miserable, human life somewhere in Florida. He won’t hurt him or you. All the big evils are gone. Almost all the angels are gone, and the ones that are left know better now than to come after us. Billie is dead, the Empty isn't coming back. If it were, the shadow would have already taken me back after I somehow got out.” Cas held Dean’s hand and squeezed it. “The only possible entity that could be a problem is Amara, but we don’t even know if she is still alive. If she is, she would have done something already if she wanted.”

Dean did not know what to say, he opened his mouth but no words came out, processing Cas’ speech. He was getting good at those, at least now Cas wasn’t saying it before his impending doom like last time. 

“Besides, I have my angel _mojo_ back,” Cas said it in Dean’s voice, since he was the first one that dubbed it the angel mojo. “And if we have to deal with more problems in the future, then we will, nothing is taking your happiness away from you now, Dean. _I_ won't _let_ it.” He said with full conviction. 

Dean gulped and let out a shaky breath, not trusting his voice to work he kissed Cas softly on the lips and rested his head on his shoulder, still holding his hand. “Thanks, Cas.” He whispered after a few minutes of comfortable silence. 

________

Eileen woke up at around seven in the morning. She and Sam had slept late from talking almost all night and having many, _many_ margaritas. Which was why she was awake looking desperately for a good cup of coffee for her hangover headache that was beginning to form, Sam was still asleep. 

She really missed _this_. Thinking back to the last few years, her life had been hectic, and that was understatement. She didn’t want to think about before she had been dead and to hell, so many things had happened since then. She was lost in thought, cup of coffee in her hand, her back resting against the counter, looking into a blank space at the wall. 

She never expected to come back to life after being able to escape hell when Chuck opened the doors to hell, she would gladly take roaming the Earth for eternity than staying in hell. Luckily for her, she didn’t have to because Sam managed to bring her back to life. She silently thanked Rowena for giving her witch stuff to Sam, if it wasn’t for her spell, Eileen would probably still be a ghost. 

She was glad to be back alive and with Sam but she had not wanted to stay with him all the time, she still had a life outside of the Winchesters and god-driven world threats. So, she had taken up hunting again, stopping by every now and then for dates with Sam. Then Chuck happened, she hated having to be forced to stab Sam in the shoulder and almost kill him, so she had left again to process what had been real and what had not. 

She doesn’t remember disappearing, not really. She knows she was texting Sam, worried and scared that something was going to happen. Then next thing she knows she just appeared at her house, instead of on the sidewalk where she last had been. It had been daytime instead of night as she remembered, and after a few minutes of trying to figure out exactly what happened, Sam called her telling her everything was okay now with only a minor explanation. 

That had been a week ago, Sam said he was busy, and he had to deal with something that came up. She had been about to drive to the bunker, ready to help but Sam had reassured her everything was okay, and he would explain eventually. 

Eileen trusted Sam and while she waited for news, she spent her week reaching out to other hunters, friends, people she knew, to make sure they were okay. She went on two hunts before Sam called her to tell her to come over. Which was three days ago, when they started planning when she could show up. And now she was here. 

She learned a lot on her drinking night with Sam; apparently Cas and Dean finally got together, which the two of them had drank to that the night before. She wasn’t blind, ever since she met Dean, she had an inkling he liked Cas. It was obvious how much Cas meant to him. She and Sam were happy the older Winchester was finally happy too. 

She also met Jack. She had heard lots about him before, when he was all grown up. But they never got to meet. She was slightly sad she wasn’t able to meet him before but the kid she met was a delight and she loved his enthusiasm with learning sign language. She had met him less than a day ago and the kid already had her wrapped around his little finger. 

She didn’t know how long she had been there, but she got snapped away from her thoughts when someone entered the kitchen. That someone was Dean, in his sleeping robe looking very tired and half asleep. 

Dean realised she was there as he got his coffee mug. He sleepily signed good morning to her at the same time she wordlessly offered him coffee from the pot she had made earlier. 

She was dumbstruck as Dean signed to her while still half asleep. He didn’t even speak. She poured him some coffee and watched him sign “thanks” as he sipped his drink. 

Eileen didn’t know Dean could sign this well. He only signed a few words but the fact he did it while still half asleep showed her he knows way more than she thought. The thought brought a smile to her face. 

“And Sam?” Dean asked after a few minutes. He had his first cup of coffee so he was feeling more like himself. 

“I think he had more than a few margaritas and is still sleeping.” She said and signed at the same time. 

Dean grinned. “What a lightweight.” He signed. 

“Yeah.” Eileen agreed and they both laughed. “You are getting good at that; didn’t know you knew how to sign.” She looked very impressed. 

Dean looked down shyly and scratched his head. “Well, you know, it was time that I learned.” He said and shrugged. “Cas has been helping me learn, he helps me practice. Still get some words... wrong.” Dean tried to sign it only, his hands were fumbling slightly, since he got nervous at being put in the metaphorical stand now that Eileen noticed his signing. 

“It’s really good so far, still needs work but nothing practice can’t help.” She smiled. It was really nice to be able to talk to someone who also signed, even if his signs weren’t the best, it meant a lot he was learning. It made her feel welcomed in the Winchester family. 

They continued drinking their coffee over some small talk until Cas showed up, looking as sleepy as Dean had been a few minutes ago.

“Good morning.” He signed at Eileen and then turned to Dean. “Coffee?” He spoke. 

Dean smiled at the sight of grumpy, sleepy Cas and passed him his newly served coffee cup. He grumbled a ‘thanks’ and downed his coffee. 

“I thought angels did not sleep?” Eileen raised an eyebrow at them. 

“They can sleep but have no need for it. Same thing goes with food, but I convinced him to try sleeping for once.” Dean said, very amused of the whole situation. “Looks like he took sleeping all too well.” He smirked and Cas shot him a tired look. “Well, anyone want breakfast? I make some mean scrambled eggs and bacon.” 

“Well when you put it like that, I _must_ have to try these eggs of yours.” She said dramatically. 

“Great choice.” Dean began grabbing the ingredients and turned to Cas. “You want breakfast? You are already sleeping, might want to add food to the day.” 

“They taste like molecules, Dean.” Cas said but after a moment he added. “But fine, maybe this time it will be different.” He knew it would still taste the same but the big gappy smile Dean made when Cas said he would eat his food was worth it. 

While Dean cooked, Cas and Eileen spent the time talking. Cas, being an angel, knew many languages and ASL was one of them, so Eileen was more than happy to engage in a conversation purely signing with someone as fluent as her. 

Dean saw them sign with quick movements which were too fast for him to catch up, so he left them to it since they looked happy, and he focused on cooking. 

Jack woke up halfway through cooking breakfast and quickly became the focus of attention of Cas and Eileen, who were more than happy to engage in conversation with him. 

By the time breakfast was done, Sam appeared at the kitchen, squinting at the light and having a very bad hangover. He saw the four of them chatting and happy, he didn’t think twice of snapping a picture of the scene in front of him before they spotted him. 

He smiled at the picture and put his phone away before joining them for breakfast. It was definitely a picture to frame later. 

“Smells delicious.” Sam complimented Dean and went to kiss Eileen good morning. “Is there bacon there? I would kill for bacon at the moment.”

“The two times he has willingly had bacon, you are around. Please keep him so I can feed him proper food instead of rabbit food.” Dean joked with Eileen before starting to serve them the food. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was originally going to be posted in a few days from now but with everything that happened yesterday in the spn fandom with Eileen i felt i should post this earlier for the ocassion since i already had it written.  
> I'm still mad that they ignored Eileen in the end so i had to write this chapter to try and give her what she deserved. (Also i just really love the idea of a Dean & Eileen friendship. :D 
> 
> Anyway, i Hope y'all enjoyed this chapter. If you would be so kind to leave a kudos or comment i shall treassure you forever since those help with my writing motivation. 
> 
> Have an Amazing day!


	4. Road Trips and Unearthed Memories

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is not Beta'd so I apologise for any typos or mistakes.  
> Also, I know I said this was going to be 6-7 chapters but it appears it will be a few chapters longer...
> 
> Happy Reading!

“Care to share what you’re thinking about or are you going to continue staring at your coffee mug like it's the most interesting thing in the world?” Sam raised his eyebrows and smirked. 

“What?” Dean snapped from his thoughts and stopped holding the mug. 

“You have been staring at that for about ten minutes, you didn’t even notice me standing here.” Sam crossed his arms. “If this is because Cas left for the day, dude you sure have it bad.” He teased. He was happy for his brother and Cas but if he was like this every time Cas was away he would have to stage some sort of intervention. 

“It's not about Cas, you ass.” Dean huffed. 

Cas and Eileen had left for the day with Jack. They had become close friends ever since she came back and decided (by Eileen) that they needed a day out without their boyfriends. Sam had thought it was a good idea since Cas sure needed more friends than only the Winchesters, and it was nice seeing Eileen and Cas so friendly. It was all fun and games until they ganged up to tease their respective boyfriends, that's when he began to reconsider liking their friendship

They had left in the morning and took Jack with them after he practically begged to go with his Dad and Eileen, all because he wanted to learn more of the ‘fun hand language’. So they took him with him. 

“Then what is it about?” Sam asked again. “Because the timing sure looks like it’s about him.” 

“It's not. I am happy he seems to like Eileen so much….. I was thinking about Jack.” Dean took a sip of his now cold coffee and made a face before putting the mug as far away as possible. 

“Jack?” Sam frowned. “Why? I’d say we are all doing a decent job with him.”

“It’s nothing bad, I was just thinking about how he would react to other people since we have kept him in the bunker all this time.”

“He has dealt with people well before, and you guys took him shopping that one time, not to mention Cas and Eileen are with him, _outside,_ with other _people_ , as we speak.” Sam pointed out. He was following Dean’s train of thought at all. 

“I don’t mean him interacting with strangers, I meant family.” He paused. “Look, it has been a week since Eileen got here, and almost two since Jack became a toddler. His powers seem to be under control, all he has done so far with them is fly and Cas is making sure the kid doesn’t fly off to who knows where on accident. So I was thinking, theoretically, it should be safe to visit Jody and the girls.” 

Sam was surprised by how the conversation took a turn. He wasn’t expecting that to be what seemed to be bothering Dean. “I think that's a good idea.” He said honestly. “Yet I can clearly see you’re not entirely convinced we should go, why?”

“If we go it means we have our guard down, that we are counting on nothing bad to happen. But what if it does? We still don’t know why he is a toddler.” Dean closed his eyes for a second, he hated being so worried even after two weeks of everything going perfectly fine. He was overthinking everything, but he didn’t know any other way to do it. 

“Dean, we can’t keep living like this. Just waiting for everything to go wrong. Chuck isn’t manipulating us anymore, we are free. I think your initial idea of visiting them is good, we should go on the weekend.” Sam decided. 

Dean still had his doubts but he was not going to share them with Sam. He would deal with it later. “Okay, I’ll give them a call and we can ask Cas and Eileen if they like the idea when they get back.” He picked up his phone from his pocket to send Jody a message but then decided he would rather call her later. “This is going to be like organising a family lunch. man, this feels _weird_.” he told Sam as he put his phone away. They were hunters, all of their lives they haven't had that much family around. For the first two decades it had always been Dean, Sam and John-- when he wasn't busy hunting something and leaving them alone in motels. 

Through the years their family kept growing, and kept dying. There were always things to do in the hunting business so a get together was rare among the hunters, even rarer for _them_. But hey, there are always first times for everything. Dean had not seen Jody nor Donna in a while, and it had been even more time since he had seen the girls. It would be nice to see them. 

“I’m sure Cas would agree to go, I know he would definitely want to see Claire.” Sam said. “I don’t know if Eileen would like a big gathering with so many people she doesn't know, but we will figure something out.” he said more to himself than to Dean. 

“If she doesn't want to go, then _tough_ .” Dean had clearly heard Sam. “She has to meet the rest of the family eventually, after all, she is _also_ family. This might be the best chance to go about it. Better now that it's _not_ a get together under shit and world-dooming circumstances as it usually goes.”

Sam was speechless. Hearing his brother call his girlfriend family made his heart feel warm. He knew Dean liked Eileen and considered her a good friend, but he did not know Dean already considered her part of the family, he looked down to hide his grin, quite unsuccessfully. 

“What?” Dean frowned at him, looking confused as to why Sam was suddenly grinning. 

“Nothing,” Sam bit the inside of his cheek to suppress his smile. “It’s just nice to hear you calling Eileen part of the family.” 

“Well, what else should I think? I like Eileen, I think she is good for you and you’re good for her. Of course she is family, hell she is practically a Winchester given how she has died, been to hell and came back. For us that’s like a rite of passage.” 

Sam did a mixture between a laugh and a grimace, they really _did_ die a lot. 

________

After Cas and Eileen had agreed about visiting Jody and the girls for the weekend, Dean left the room to call her. Both Cas and Eileen thought it would be nice to visit them and she was looking forward to meeting the rest of the Winchester family. They also asked Jack if he would be okay with meeting Jody and the others, he wasn’t entirely aware if he knew them already or not but he agreed with a big gappy smile on his face because he could sense his dads cared about those people. 

Dean picked up the phone and dialled, he waited until the third ring for an answer, as he was used to, but this time it went to voicemail. His first thought was that something was wrong but he tried to ignore it, convincing himself maybe there was a bad signal or some normal explanation to her not answering. He dialled again and this time she picked up. 

“Hey Dean, is everything okay over there?” Jody answered and he could hear her being worried. 

“Yeah, everything is okay.” He paused awkwardly, he wasn’t one to make social calls. He was currently rethinking why he didn’t send a text instead like he first had thought of. “Uh, everything good over there? You usually answer faster than this?”

“Yeah, I was talking to Claire about this hunt she wanted to go to, didn’t hear the phone till now.” She answered and when there was no follow up questions from Dean she pried some more. “So, are you going to tell me why you called or are we just gonna sit here in silence.” She said with no harshness to it. 

Dean chuckled. “Yeah sorry, we were thinking of coming to visit soon, if that was okay with you and the girls.”

“We would love to have you boys around.” She sounded surprised. “I’m absolutely not complaining, but what brought this on?” 

“Oh, you know. The end of the world was cancelled again. We thought it would be nice to see you without it being for disaster circumstances for once.” He said shyly and shrugged even though she couldn’t see him over the phone. 

“That’s really sweet of you.” Dean could hear Jody’s smile as she talked. “So when would you guys be showing up?”

“We were thinking, this weekend? We can drive there on Friday and arrive at night, it’s only six hours away so we could also leave Saturday morning and make it early afternoon.”

“Friday sounds great. I’ll make sure you boys have some pie when you get here.” 

“This is why you’re my favourite.” Dean loved pies and it made him happy whenever someone he cared about gave him one. It was like recieving a double hug, but better. 

“Will it only be you two?” Jody questioned, sounding unsure for the first time since the call started. She didn’t know much of what happened with Chuck, least of all what happened afterwards. All she knew was that Sam called her the day the boys had fought God, told her that there was no threat anymore and that he had to hang up to check up on Dean because something happened with Cas. She didn’t have time to pry answers but she figured Cas did not make it. 

However, Dean sounded happy on the phone, which was odd of him since last she heard he was mourning Cas. 

“Uh, no. Cas, Jack and Eileen will be coming too.” He paused. “Is it still okay if we go?”

“Absolutely! The more the merrier. Cas is always welcome and I want to meet Eileen. I’ve heard so much about her but that gigantor of your brother never introduced me to her.” She let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. It made her at ease and happy to hear that Cas was alive and so was Eileen. She made a mental note to extract some answers of what had happened when they came by. 

“Great! I’ll see you Friday then.” Dean smiled into the phone. This whole conversation felt so out of place but not in a bad way. Simply planning something so mundane was insane to Dean, but he found himself enjoying this slice of normalcy. Well, their own twisted version of normalcy. 

_______

“If you were this slow at getting your asses ready when we were on hunts you would all be dead by now.” Dean yelled from the garage, leaning on the impala and waiting for Cas, Eileen and Sam. He and Jack were the only ones ready to leave on their six hour road trip to Jody’s. 

Dean had his duffel bag all ready, always carrying clothes and essentials for at least 5 days on the road, even if they were only going 3 days, since that's what he learned ever since he was a kid. 

He didn’t understand why the other 3 adults were taking so long, especially Cas since he wore the exact same thing every day and didn’t carry additional things apart from his phone and angel blade. 

“Dean, I thought we agreed to keep the language PG from now on.” Sam walked in with Eileen, each carrying a duffel bag. 

“I said I was going to swear less, not stop completely.” Dean did keep himself from using the strong swear words but he honestly didn't see what was a big deal with some of those. Hell, he was so used to saying them he didn’t realise he was even saying so many in the first place. It was a wonder how Jack hadn’t picked up on his language style already. 

“Whatever. We’re all ready.” Sam opened the trunk of the impala to put in their bags. 

“Where’s Cas?” Eileen asked as she looked around and saw they were missing a member from their group. 

“Hell, if I know.” Dean shrugged. “He never takes this long.” He said, annoyed. “Cas! C'mon, we don’t have all day.” He yelled so Cas could hear him from wherever he was in the bunker. 

“I’m coming.” Cas appeared beside Dean which made him slightly jump. 

“Dude, you scared me.” Dean was still not used to Cas getting his wings back. Whatever got him out from the empty also reinstated him to a full angel with all his mojo. 

“My Apologies, Dean.” He didn’t sound too sorry for himself. “Since you didn’t want me to fly you all to Jody’s--” he was cut short by Dean.

“Yeah, because flying isn’t fun and we always drive everywhere. I don’t see the problem.” Dean reiterated, they had talked about this multiple times in the days prior to leaving.

Dean wanted to drive as always but Cas thought it was more practical to fly there, especially with a kid involved. But he knew better to not push Dean too much when it came to his car or flying, it wasn't like Dean had the best memories attached to it. 

“As I was saying, you’re driving, so I was getting Jack some snacks for when he gets hungry on the way. Since his appetite is way bigger than yours with all the energy he needs.”

Dean’s first thought was that he should have thought of that before and reprimanded himself. The kid needed to eat of course they needed snacks. He was so used to having around adults only, mostly Sam or Cas with him on road trips, so he wasn’t used to having provisions beforehand. If they were hungry they would stop somewhere to get food. Besides, when they were kids it's not like they had enough food for snacks. John didn’t like paying extra at the motels for food for the road. 

Dean’s second thought however, was of pure admiration for his angel. 

Dean’s bad mood was gone in a heartbeat and he went from annoyed at being late to lighthearted and loving at Cas. “That’s really thoughtful, Cas. Thanks” 

Cas looked down with a half smile at the compliment. He didn’t think he would ever get used to all the compliments Dean gave him. 

They stared at each other with half smiles until Sam coughed awkwardly to snap them out of their moment, at the same time Jack, who was staring at them with his usual head tilt, whispered rather loudly at Sam. “Why are they looking at them like that?”

That broke the eye staring between Cas and Dean. Dean was looking rather embarrassed at the kid’s question since he didn’t know how to answer, Cas was in the same situation. 

“They do that sometimes.” Sam shrugged as if that explained everything. 

Eileen hid her smile at their reaction. 

Jack continued staring at them for a moment before finding the answer sufficient. “Okay. Are we going now?”

“Yeah, let’s get going. Jody and the girls are expecting us.”

____

Sam wiggled in the backseat, not for the first time; he was always used to being in the passenger’s seat where he could have more space. Being so tall wasn’t always a good thing. “I still can’t believe you left me to ride in the back.” He did know why, it was the most logical situation since that way Cas and Dean could talk and Sam could ride next to Eileen and Jack. He still did not like it. 

“You were the one who didn’t want to take two cars.” Dean smiled at the sight of Sam squished in the back seat with Jack.

“Yeah, starting to regret that.”

During the last hour and a half that they had been on the road, Jack spent the whole time talking about anything and everything, and spent a while of that time practicing his sign language with Eileen. So far he hadn’t gotten bored and every adult in the car was hoping it stayed that way. Dean knew how a bored kid in a car was, and he wanted to avoid it at all costs. 

“How about you, kid? Having fun back there?” He asked Jack. 

“Mhm-hmm.” He nodded happily. “Eileen says I’m getting very good at hand talk!”

“Sign language.” Sam corrected. 

“Yeah that.” He smiled and signed a ‘good morning how are you’ to her. 

“That’s good to hear, kid.” Dean said, quickly turning his head to the back seat to give him a smile and then turned back to continue driving. 

For the next two hours everything went well. The snacks Cas packed turned out to be extremely useful for when Jack began getting snappy at them until they gave him something to eat. They had only done one restroom stop so far due to Jack and they were more halfway there. 

Now the entire car was playing ‘I Spy’ with Jack. Dean and Eileen were guessing most of Jack’s turns correctly, while blatantly failing on purpose when it was Sam’s turn. Jack was having too much fun and the car was filled with his giggles. 

“Okay! Ts my turn again!” Jack bounced happily in his car seat. “I Spy with my little eye…. something bright.” 

“Bright?” Eileen asked to make sure she read his lips correctly. When the kid got too excited he tended to mash his words together. 

“Yeah!” Jack nodded. 

“Is it, the sun?” Cas asked, pointing out the obvious answer. 

“Nuh uh.” Jack giggled. 

“Is it the sun’s reflection on the car’s keychain?” Dean asked. He quickly looked at anything bright he could find so he could continue driving. He could not think of any other bright thing. 

“Nope.” Jack shook his head with a smile. 

“Is it the sun reflecting on any surface?” Eileen asked. 

“Nope. It's not the sun.” Jack shook his head. 

“Hmm.. you chose a real hard one, Jack.” Sam turned to look at him. “Can you give us a hint?”

“Yes…” he scratched his chin to make it look like he was thinking. “The bright, shiny thing is in the back part of the car.”

Everyone except Dean, who was busy driving, started to look in the backseat, looking for something shiny or bright. They had no idea what Jack was looking at and they were running out of ideas after a few minutes. 

“It’s not hard! You’re making this on purp’se!” Jack started to get sad no one guessed. 

“I’m sorry, Jack. But it appears you have won this round. We don’t know what you are looking at.” Cas said. 

“I’m lookin’ at the-the light thingy in Sam!” Jack said as if it was the most obvious answer ever. 

Sam, Eileen and Dean frowned confused. Dean even slowed down the car so he could check up on his brother to make sure there was no weird light on him like Jack said. 

Before anyone could say anything, Cas spoke. “Jack.. are you talking about Sam’s soul?” He looked surprised. 

“If it's the bright thing on his chest then yes.” Jack did not understand why everyone was making a big deal. “Dee and Eileen have similar bright things in their chest. Cas has a different shiny thing.”

They all understood what just happened. Jack could see their souls and Cas’ grace. Something stood out from what he said that had the adults frowning even more. “Why didn’t you mention Sam’s soul with Dean and Eileen’s?” Cas asked. 

“Because his is different. Has more lines.” Jack answered. 

Sam tensed his jaw. “Lines?” Dean was hearing the conversation very closely because if there was something wrong they needed to know. 

“Duh. It's..” he huffed not knowing how to explain it. “Cas’ light is different because it shines a different color and--and he has no lines, it's all bright. Dee and Eileen have lights a different color but they have a few dark lines.. like when you turn off the lights.. uh.. like shadows? But not a lot. Sam has a very _very_ bright light.. more shiny but has a lot of dark lines.” Jack said matter-of-factly. He was quiet for a few seconds before frowning. “You can’t see it… I’m the only one who can see the shiny souls?” Jack asked, already knowing the answer. 

“Yeah, kid. We are not special like you, we can’t see souls like you do.” Dean told him. 

“Hmm.” Jack pouted. He wasn’t a fan of his dads not being like him. At least with his flying he had Cas, who could fly with him. But if he didn’t see the souls that meant it was only him.. he didn’t like it.

Everyone was quiet for a good minute or two. Trying to understand what the kid was saying. They were now aware he could see their souls but they didn’t know why they were so different from Sam’s.

“ _Oh_ , I see.” Cas said gravely. 

Sam knew the moment Cas spoke what it was about. He tensed his whole body and tried to calm his breathing, fighting away the panic attack that was arising and shoving down the memories he never wanted to think about ever again. His soul was still damaged from the cage and Jack could see it. 

“Oh’, _what_?” Dean glared. 

“I don’t think it's smart to say the full version now.” Cas glanced at Jack who was playing with Sam’s phone he found next to him. They understood now that it wasn’t a topic for a kid to hear. “But remember the Sam soul problem we had after the first apocalypse?” Cas tried to keep it general so Jack would not ask questions. 

Dean made an oh face and gripped the wheel tighter, accelerating more. “We’re talking about this later.” He had so many questions and he was going to get them. He needed to know if his brother was okay. They never really talked about what happened during that time, and Dean started to regret it. 

Eileen was not understanding half the conversation since she couldn’t read Cas nor Dean’s lips from the backseat but when he saw Sam’s mood completely changed she knew better than to ask him right now, whatever it was she sensed he didn't want to talk about it. 

Cas seemed to pick up on it, he turned half his body so he was facing backwards and swiftly signed a summary of what happened. 

Eileen’s made a pained expression before she could scold it into a neutral one, and grab Sam’s hand for support. 

Sam barely reacted, too busy lost in his thoughts. Of course his soul was so damaged from the cage even Jack could see it. 

The ambience in the car became more heavy and the happy, lighthearted car ride that had been only a few minutes ago got completely erased. 

Dean decided that he was not having it. He was not letting the whole car brood over this stuff. Sam was tensed up at one end of the backseat, Eileen in the middle and Jack on the other side, pouting and looking sad. 

So Dean slipped a cassette in the car and turned the volume almost all the way up. In a matter of seconds, it went from dead quiet to a blaring sound that made everyone but Dean and Cas jump at the sound. 

_“It's all the same, only the names will change_

_Everyday, it seems we're wastin' away”_

The music started playing as Dean started slapping his hands on the steering wheel along with the song. 

Everyone in the backseat was staring at Dean. Sam had a mixture of a frown with his bitchface, Eileen (who could tell there was music playing due to the music being so loud it made the car vibrate ever so slightly) was smiling at Dean and Jack was frowning at the music he hadn’t heard before. 

“What’s this music?” Jack asked. 

“This, kid, is proper good music, not the lame songs they put nowadays. I’m gonna show you what the classics are and you will love them.” Dean said with a gigantic grin on his face.

“Oh… okay.” Jack still looked doubtful. 

Sam stopped his inner panic to throw Dean another bitchface. “Really Dean?”

“What?” Dean smirked and turned the volume up. “You people are brooding and it’s boring.” he figured changing the subject would be the best way to go about this whole situation for the time being, he was still worried but they did not need to know that. 

“Fine, I get that, but Bon Jovi? Really?” 

“Bon Jovi rocks, on occasion.” Dean said seriously. “C’mon, you know the chorus and you _will_ sing it.” 

_“I'm a cowboy, on a steel horse I ride”_ Dean sang along with the song at the top of his lungs and turned to both Sam and then looked at Cas. “Sing with me. I know you know it.”

_“I'm wanted dead or alive”_ Dean and Sam joined the chorus, Sam not as into the song as Dean but the tension he had been holding had diminished. 

_“Waaaaanted….dead or alive”_ Dean, Sam and Cas sang with the music. Sam and Dean were mostly screaming it way off tune. Cas was mumbling it tone deaf, but he was singing it nonetheless which put an even wider grin on Dean. 

By the time the song ended everyone in the car was less broody and the tension was mostly gone. Jack was wiggling in his seat, dancing along the song which he found he liked. Eileen was enjoying seeing the other three make dramatic and slightly ridiculous singing faces. 

However, Dean did not stop with one song, as soon as it ended he switched to the next one. “Jack, this is by Led Zeppelin. You’re gonna love it, okay?” Dean laughed with joy when Jack replied with a very enthusiastic but slightly confused “okay”

“Dean, you can’t make him love the music because you say so.” Cas pointed out. He was not rude or harsh, he was simply pointing out a fact. 

“Sure I can, I did it with you.” He half joked. “Besides, I’m not gonna let our kid have a bad taste in music.” 

_______

The next hour went by without much conversation. Eileen was teaching Jack some ASL while Dean blasted music at full volume and making sure the rest of the people in the car heard every song out of tone as he sang. Cas found it endearing in a slightly annoyed way, but endearing nonetheless. Sam was trying to join in at times but what happened with Jack earlier still affected him and the other adults could tell. 

They had to make another stop, since Jack needed to go to the bathroom. Dean parked the car at a gas station and took Jack inside. Cas signed to Eileen, asking her if she wanted to buy some snacks or something. 

Eileen got the hint Cas wanted to talk to Sam alone and she told Sam she was going to buy some chips and would be right back. Once she left, Cas turned around on his seat to look at Sam in the eye. 

“Listen, Sam. What happened at the cage was something that no human should ever experience. It was meant to hold an archangel, not two archangels and a human. However, that doesn’t mean you have to feel bad for your soul being scarred. That is proof that you’re still here” Sam was about to protest but Castiel stopped him. “No, listen to me. You heard what Jack said.”

“Yeah, loud and clear, I had “too many lines” by which im guessing he meant scars... how scarred is it? Can you see them too?”

“I can only see souls if I focus enough, I don’t see them naturally like Jack. But that is irrelevant. He said that your soul was brighter than any of us, which proves how good of a person you are. You went through the worst thing life had to offer and you came through on the other side. Lucifer didn’t make you a bad person, I’m sure anyone spending centuries in the cage with him would turn angry and hating at the world. You didn’t, you kept saving the world and doing good after so many years.” 

“Yeah but-“

“No. Sam, listen, you’re like a brother to me, and you are my family. I am not letting you be miserable about it. Look, you don’t have to feel sad or bad that your soul is how it is. Your and your brother’s souls are the most bright souls I have seen, despite everything you have been through. That doesn’t sound like something to sulk about, is it?”

“No..” Sam mumbled, still tensed but he wasn’t as sad as earlier. 

“Sam, you _shot_ God. You and your brother saved the world, again. Now you can finally be happy, don’t sabotage yourself by thinking about things that don’t need your attention. Let yourself be happy, with Eileen, with Jack, with the rest of your family.”

Sam was quiet for a bit. He wasn’t ignoring him, but processing what he said. “Thank you, Cas.” Cas had made him feel much better. He still wasn’t 100% well, but he would be. He knew it now. 

“Of course.” He paused. “And Sam? I know the memories of the cage don’t ever go away, not fully. So when you have a bad day, you can come talk to me if you need. I know what it's like to deal with my brother, not to your extent, but I get it if you need someone to talk to who understands.”

Sam didn’t know what to say. He was grateful for his speech, he never expected Cas to tell him that. He thought about shrugging him off and telling him he was fine but he thought better. “Thanks, Cas. I’ll do that.” 

Dean, Jack and Eileen had made their way back to the car and entered just as they finished talking. Dean knew Cas was talking to Sam after Eileen told him, but he wasn't going to pry. He saw Sam looked better than he left him and that was good enough for him, he trusted if he needed to know something, Cas would tell him. 

After an hour, Jack was getting sleepy so Dean turned off the music down and in a matter of minutes the kid was snoozing on his seat, head slumped to the side and downwards. 

He stayed asleep during the rest of the drive, until Dean parked the car outside Jody’s house, about fifty feet away from the door. The engine wasn’t quiet at all, so Jody must have heard them arrive because a few seconds after the car was turned off Dean saw her, along with Donna and Alex, coming out of the house to greet them. 

Dean smiled and waved as he got out of the car. He was really looking forward to this weekend. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope y'all enjoyed this chapter. If you would be so kind to leave a kudos or comment i shall treasure you forever since those help with my writing motivation.
> 
> This chapter was supposed to be pure fluff but then as I was writing the car scene its like it was writing itself and I had to add the bit of angst.. the Winchesters really cant have anything with a little angst cant they? 
> 
> I am not the happiest with this chapter, since this and the next one were supposed to be only one chapter combined, but i had to split them up due to word count. However, I am excited to finish the next chapter since I already have it halfway done and has a lot of found family fluff :D 
> 
> Anyway, have an amazing day!!


	5. Family Don't End With Blood (Part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Found family with lots of cooking involved :D

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! So, I was supposed to post this yesterday but completely forgot.  
> Its a small chapter, but with lots of family fluff, so I hope you enjoy!  
> Some scenes of this chapter were inspired by [Lunmelia's post on Tumblr](https://lunmelia.tumblr.com/post/637201617129766912/i-praythee-more-dadstiel-raising-jack)
> 
> Also, theres a scene where someone gets cut with a knife while cooking, not too graphic, but I feel it should be a warning just in case.

Dean got out of the car first after Cas told him he would take care of waking up Jack. He smiled and went to hug Jody who had her arms opened waiting for him. 

“It’s good to see you in one piece.” Jody told him as she hugged him. 

“Likewise.” Dean then went to greet Donna and Alex who were waiting for them there too. He was so happy to see them. “Where’s the rest of you?”

“Patience is inside, Claire and Kaia will be back tomorrow morning. They are on a hunt that was supposed to be finished by now but there were some setbacks.” Dean’s entire face scrunched up, worried. Jody chuckled “Relax, the hunt is over, and they are okay. They’re just stopping at a motel for the night, so they can be well rested while driving back here. I don’t let them drive back immediately after the hunt if they're too tired.” Jody calmed him down. 

By then, Sam and Eileen joined Dean outside the house and greeted them. “This is Eileen.” 

Eileen smiled at them. “Hi! It’s so nice to finally meet you!” 

Jody signed a very shaky ‘hi, nice to meet you’ “that’s all I can sign for now, but by the time you guys come back I’ll be signing in no time.” She smiled and looked at Eileen. “After all I’ve heard about you it's so good to put a face to the name. Welcome to the family.” 

Eileen smiled brightly. “Thank you.”

“Aren’t Jack and Cas comin’?” Donna chimed in after peeking a glance back at the car where Cas could be seen getting something from the backseat. “I want to say hello to the kid since the last time I saw him the world was going to end.”

Dean turned a glance back at Cas. “He is probably getting Jack. He fell asleep on the way here and he can be grumpy when he wakes up.” 

“You know what they say, like father, like son.” Eileen said as she signed and pointed at Dean. 

Sam, Jody, Donna and Alex chuckled at the comment while Dean’s face was doing a whole rollercoaster of expressions, deciding whether to laugh or complain about it. 

Before he could answer he was distracted by Cas finally getting away from the car, carrying Jack with one arm. Jack had his brown blanket over him where he was clutching it with his hands and hiding his face in the crook of Cas’ neck. He was awake, but still tired and wasn’t in a full mood to meet the many people he could hear all the way from the car. 

Dean smiled at them, face relaxing at the sight of his family. He was too preoccupied with staring at the angel and the kid that he didn’t notice the slight change in atmosphere nor the conversation going eerily quiet.

“ _ Dean… _ ” Jody said, making Dean snap out of his thoughts to look at her. 

“Yeah?”

“That’s a kid. Cas is carrying an actual child.” Jody looked at Donna. They both had the same expression of surprise. 

“Yeah, that’s Jack. I told you he would be coming too.” Dean frowned slightly. He hadn’t quite got the memo that not everyone was used to Jack being a kid now. 

“That’s Jack?” Donna gasped, looking at Cas and Jack walking their way. 

“Dean, why is Jack a literal toddler?” 

Sam tensed his jaw and stared at Dean. “Did you really forget to tell them about Jack?” 

“Yup.” Dean smiled sheepishly. By now Cas had now arrived at the front door of the house where the rest of them were. “Well, I’m telling you now. Ladies, this is Jack.” He introduced even though technically most of them had already met him. Then he pointed to Cas, and with a grin he said. “And this handsome fella is Cas.”

“Hi, Cas. Nice to see you again.” Jody smiled at him and then saw Jack peeking from his blanket at her, so she gave her biggest mom smile and greeted him. “Hey, Jack! Remember me?” They had met once before but she had no idea if he remembered now that he was a toddler. She was definitely going to have a talk later with the boys when the kid was out of earshot. 

Jack squinted his eyes as he thought and shook his head against Cas’ neck. He wasn’t in the mood to talk yet. 

“Well then, I’m Jody, nice to meet you.” 

Jack waved at her slightly before hiding between his blanket and Cas. 

While they talked Alex slipped inside the house unnoticed. She was going to give Patience a heads up on the slight turn of events. 

“He isn’t as talkative when he takes long naps. Give him a few minutes and I’m sure he will open up.” Eileen told her and Jody gave her a knowing look, she remembered back when she had to deal with a sleepy toddler herself, a long time ago. 

“Well, we could just stand here but I’m sure we will be much more chipper inside.” Donna told them and they all started moving inside. 

The next half an hour was spent in a mixture of small talk and getting the guest rooms settled for the Winchesters. Eileen and Sam were sharing a room while Dean Cas and Jack were sharing the other spare room. 

Dean and Jack were going to take the bed while Cas had the couch. (Dean had tried to take the couch for himself but after Cas kept arguing he didn’t need sleep, but Dean did, he begrudgingly agreed.) 

By the time they were settled, Jack had woken up a bit more and was becoming more talkative with the new people he met. 

He took a liking to Jody the quickest, Dean joked it was because she had the mom vibe. Eileen, Donna and Patience got along quite well, doing some small talk about hunting and sharing stories about it. Eileen shared a few tips on hunting with Patience, since she was the youngest and newest member to join the profession. 

Alex ended up talking with Sam about her job as a nurse while Cas and Dean spent it with Jody and Jack. Jody wanted to know what the hell had happened to the kid, but she knew it would have to wait until he fell asleep. Currently, she was listening to him talk about his new knowledge of snakes he learnt that week (thanks to Cas). 

She wasn’t going to lie, having a kid around her house again brought back some tainted memories, reminding her about the life her son never got to fully have. But at the same time, she was enjoying having a small kid around and instinctively went back to her full mom mode. 

Due to them having arrived there later than they planned, Alex and Patience already had dinner a few hours before, and it was pretty late, so they excused themselves to their rooms after chatting and socialising with them for a while. 

The rest of them had a quick dinner and the adults had a few beers while Jack had some grape juice. They stayed at the table for about two hours, just chatting, until Jack got tired again and Cas went to put him to bed. 

The moment Jack left the room Jody and Donna did not waste any time bombarding Sam, Dean and Eileen for questions. 

Donna was the most shocked, since out of the two of them she was the last one to see Jack fully grown. She had been there when everyone started to disappear while they had been fighting Chuck and Death. Which had been less than three weeks ago. 

So, they told the story of how they dealt with Chuck, once again, and explained how Cas came back the same day as Jack with no explanation. They still had no solid clues as to why. However, so far, they had been able to cross out a few options; Chuck was absolutely  _ not  _ behind any of it, since they were still alive, and Jack showed no signs of having anything wrong. 

If Dean was honest, he was already prepared to take care of Jack as a toddler full time. The first few days were wild and difficult to get used to but now taking care of him was second nature. Jody smiled knowingly at him. She figured that out the second Dean had forgotten to mention the fact Jack was a toddler, it was obvious how he found it so natural by that point. Besides, two minutes of Cas and Dean interacting with the kid and it was painfully obvious Jack was  _ theirs _ . 

Jody went to bed a little bit lighter knowing her boys were alright and happy for once. Plus, she was glad there was no looming threat after them. That night she curled up next to Donna and slept better than she had in a long time. 

___________

“Dean, I hear you make some great burgers. Wanna help us out in the kitchen?” Donna asked him. 

Dean grinned at the burger praise. “If I can get my hands on the ingredients, I can make you all some fantastic Dean Deluxe.” He agreed excitedly and after a quick nod to Cas and Eileen, letting them know to take care of Jack, he trailed after her to the kitchen. 

“We should have most, if not all ingredients. If not Sam, Patience and Alex went to buy some last-minute supplies so a quick call to them and we can have what is needed.” 

“Awesome.” Dean began looking for and grabbing the needed ingredients. It was weird for him to cook with other people, since he was used to cooking alone and in a much bigger space in the bunker. He found he quite liked the company. “What are you two cooking?”

“Donna is making some pies,” Jody laughed as Dean’s face lit up and smiled like a kid on Christmas. “I’m in charge of the salad and pasta.” 

“Sounds delicious.” 

They spent a few minutes in comfortable silence until Donna spoke. “Babe, pass me that knife over there.” 

Jody passed one of the knives she had nearby and continued cutting the vegetables for the salad. 

Dean stopped paying attention to the meat and stared at Jody, who had her back to him, and then at Donna, who was too busy baking to notice Dean. He opened his mouth to say something, but he didn’t say a word, so he closed it, and frowned.

“I can hear your brain tinkering from here. What is it?” Jody said, putting the sliced tomatoes on the salad bowl. 

“You two….” He trailed off, not knowing how to ask. 

Donna had walked near Jody by then, so she wrapped her arms sideways around Jody’s neck, and winked. “Are we together? Yeah, ya betcha.” 

Dean hummed in acknowledgment but was still frowning. “When did— I mean, I’m happy for you both. But when did this happen?” 

“About a year and a half ago. A few months after Donna broke it off with Doug.” Jody put the food aside and turned to face Dean. “We don’t exactly keep it a secret. Did you really not know?”

Dean scratched the back of his head and chuckled nervously. “Uh... well...”

“I now understand why it took you so long to get with Cas.” Jody teased and Dean bumped his elbow against her, shoving her lightly. 

“Shut up.” Dean said sheepishly. “Do the rest of them know?”

“Yeah. Pretty sure everyone but you were aware.” Jody bit the inside of his cheek to avoid laughing. Dean looked so lost at finding out he was the only one who wasn’t in the loop of it. 

“Huh… Well, I'm happy for you two. Really.” Dean knew he wasn’t the best at relationships, both spotting them and being in one but not knowing about these two? They were practically close family, he felt he should have known. “Completely unrelated, I’m going to go ask Cas something about... the burgers.” He excused himself and went to find Cas.

“Should we tell him about Claire and Kaia?” Donna asked as Dean walked out of the kitchen. 

“Nah. Let him find out on his own. I want to see how long it takes him to figure it out.” Jody snickered.

___

Dean found Cas in the living room, teaching Jack some signs with Eileen. He flashed a smile at them in greeting before he turned his full attention to his angel. “Cas did you know Donna and Jody are together?”

“Yes.” 

“Like, together as a couple.” Dean clarified. 

“Yes.”

“Huh.” Dean waited a few seconds to see if Cas was going to elaborate. When he figured that was not going to be the case, he turned his focus to both Eileen and Jack. “Having fun?” He signed. 

Eileen made her hand into a fist and bobbed it back and forth. Making the sign for ‘yes’. 

Jack stared at Dean with a head tilt. “Can you sign that again, but slow?”

Dean smiled and did as told. He held his hands in a slightly bent motion and moved them back and touched his chest. Signing ‘having’. Then he brushed two fingers to the tip of his nose and landed them on his other two fingers of the other hand, signing ‘fun’.

Jack understood it this time and excitedly nodded his head. “It's very fun!” He bobbed his tiny fist back and forth to also sign ‘yes’. 

Dean grinned and his eyes shined proudly at his kid. “You’re learning too fast! Before we know it, you will be signing better than almost all of us.” He ruffled Jack’s hair and the kid giggled. 

“Why are you not with us? You’ve been gone a lot.” Jack asked. 

“I haven’t left, bud. I was in the kitchen with Aunt Jody and Aunt Donna.”

“Doing what?”

“Making burgers.” Dean told him. “Don’t worry, kid. I’m making yours kid sized so you can bite into it with no problem.”

“I don’t need my food to be smaller or less.” He pouted and crossed his arms. 

“Uh” Dean’s eyes widened as he tried to come up with the best way to avoid the upcoming fit Jack was about to make. He forgot how kids sometimes took things a bit too seriously. “Hey, look at me.” Dean said gently and Jack looked at him, still pouting. “You will have the same amount of food as the rest of us, it will just be put in a different way. That way you can enjoy your food better. Does that make sense?”

“I guess…” Jack shrugged. 

“Tell you what. What do you say if you come help us in the kitchen so you can see as your burger is made? And maybe Donna will let you help with the pie.”

Jack’s mood completely changed in a matter of seconds and he started jumping excitedly. “Yes! Yes!”

Dean relaxed once he saw Jack was back to happy. He grabbed Jack and placed him on his hip so he could carry him with only one arm while he headed to the kitchen. He gave a quick reassuring grin to both Eileen and Cas and left them both to go back to cooking. 

He walked into the kitchen with Jack at his side. “Hey. Do you two mind if this guy helps us cook lunch?” 

Jody looked at Jack with a grin and very enthusiastically said. “Not at all! We would love an extra helper.”

Jack smiled at her answer and started moving his head to scout the kitchen, seeing all the food and plates laying around. 

“Hey there, sunshine, wanna help me with the pie?” Donna asked brightly. 

Jack lit up at the mention of pie and extended his arms to Donna so that she could pick him up. Once she did, she sat him on top of the counter, making sure any knives and sharp objects were away from him, and she took out the pastry dough so Jack could help her put it in the casing. 

Dean got back to his burgers and listened to Jack talk avidly to both Jody and Donna. He was lost in thought in the relaxing atmosphere and didn’t know how much time passed when he got yanked back from his thoughts when he heard a long line of very imaginative yet kid friendly curses. 

“Shnookerdookies and fudge nuggets” Donna she hissed in pain and held her finger tight with her other hand. 

Everyone stopped what they were doing and went to see what happened. It appeared Donna was cutting some cherries for the cherry pie when she accidentally cut a slice of her finger and it started bleeding. 

“Shit. Are you okay?” Dean asked as he saw the blood. 

Jody shot him a look about the language but didn’t say anything because now was not the time. 

“Yeah, it’s just a cut, doncha worry.” 

Jody grabbed some napkins to wrap the bleeding finger in it while they moved her to the sink to put some cold water in it to clean it. Dean immediately went the opposite direction to grab Jack and keep him away from seeing blood. It wasn’t too bad, but Dean didn’t know exactly what amount of blood a normal three-year-old should be exposed to and he didn’t want to find out. It's not like it did any good since Jack poked his head out to see if Donna was okay, ending up seeing the blood. 

“Is she okay?” Jack asked worriedly.

“Yeah, kid. She is fine. Don’t worry.” 

“But she is hurt!” He could feel a bit of Donna’s pain radiating from her and he didn't like it. 

“Yeah, but she will be okay. It’s a small cut but she will be just fine in no time.” Dean told him with his best convincing smile. 

Jack, however, was still not convinced. He looked at where Donna was, cleaning the cut near the sink and in a blink of an eye he appeared on the counter next to her. He flew. 

Everyone was momentarily silent since neither Donna nor Jody had seen his usage of flying. That moment of silence allowed Jack to do the speaking for himself. 

“I fix you.” Jack said and with furrowed brows he grabbed Donna’s injured finger with his tiny hand and once it was near him, he placed his hand above it, emitting a light and in a matter of seconds her finger was good as new. “All better now.” 

Donna was the first one to snap out of being shocked and smiled at Jack. “Well, thank you! That was really sweet of you, kiddo.” She figured she could be shocked later when she planned on interrogating Dean or Cas for some answers. 

All it took was a glance at Dean for Jody to realise it was new to him too. 

Jack picked up on the silence and realised all the adults were still looking at him. He looked apologetically at Dean. “Sorry.”

“Sorry for what?” Dean frowned and snapped himself out of his shock of finding out his kid had even more powers. In hindsight he probably should not be too surprised, the kid was a Nephilim after all, he knew he was all powered up when he was grown up so it would probably be the same now. It’s just weird seeing a kid straight up healing someone. 

“Because I flew, and Cas isn’t with me…” Jack pouted. He had been so worried when he saw his new friend get hurt, he did not really think about the fact he couldn’t fly without permission yet. 

“Don’t worry about it, buddy.” Dean’s face softened and went to pick Jack up from where he was sitting on the counter next to Donna. “I know you wanted to help. Just don’t go flying around like that later on, okay?” 

Jack nodded seriously. “Can I go with Cas now?” He mumbled. He had been having fun but now he was feeling tension from the others from what happened, and he would rather not be there, he wanted his other Dad. 

“Sure,” Dean gave Jody and Donna a ‘be right back’ smile and left with Jack. As soon as he left the kitchen, he realised there was a lot of noise coming from the main entrance. Last he saw it had been Eileen and Cas but now it sounded like more people were there. He figured maybe Patience, Sam and Alex arrived from the grocery store. When he entered the living room he was surprised to see it wasn’t who he originally thought, and instead of Sam and the others being the ones who arrived, was no other than Kaia and Claire chatting up with Eileen and Cas.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What did y'all think? Comments and Kudos are like free dopamine for me!
> 
> This chapter was actually going to be way longer, as in when i finished writing it it was over 10k. So, I decided to split it up so it wouldnt be too long. Next chapter has a lot of Dadstiel, Claire and Kaia. I'm looking forward to posting it so I'll probably update soon. 
> 
> Thanks for reading! have an amazing day!


	6. Family Don't End With Blood (Part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Claire and Kaia meet Jack, fluff ensues and Cas is a great Dad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some extra fluff for y'all. Enjoy!

Cas and Eileen were both laughing at something he said when the main door opened and both Kaia and Claire walked in, Claire had an arm around Kaia’s shoulders. They each had a duffel bag of their own, obviously containing at least a few guns and other weapons. Claire had a busted lip and a bruise under her right eye while Kaia had a similar bruise on her cheek. 

“Good news, those sons of bitches are dead, and this time it was Kaia who killed it, all by herself.” Claire exclaimed, looking proudly at her. She was going to continue rambling about her hunt when she saw Cas and a woman she didn’t know, she guessed it was Eileen, were there. “Hey.” She waved at Cas and then looked at Eileen. “You must be Eileen, right?” 

“Yes.” Eileen said, not having a clue who this new person was. 

“Nice. I’m Claire, this is Kaia.” She pointed at Kaia with her free arm and smiled. After she finished talking, she looked away to put down the duffel bags. 

“Are you alright?” Cas questioned as he motioned to their bruised faces. 

Claire shrugged. “Yeah. This is nothing, you should see the other guy.” She joked.

“I could heal that for you.” Cas offered. “Both of you.” 

“It's okay, I will heal—” Claire stopped talking when she noticed the two new people walking into the room. She recognised Dean of course, but what she found out of place was that he was carrying a small kid with him. “What the—”

“Hey!” Dean smiled at the sight of the girls. “I thought you two wouldn’t show up until later.” As he talked Jack motioned him to put him down so he did, thinking Jack would just run to Cas. 

However, the moment Jack was on the ground he ran towards Kaia with a very excited screeching followed by him screaming her name. “ **Kaia** !!” He collided with her legs and hugged them. 

Jody and Donna all but sprinted from the kitchen as they heard the kid yell, thinking something bad had happened. When they arrived, they saw the kid practically glued himself to Kaia and Jody stifled a laugh at it. “Hey, you two, glad to see you’ve made it.”

Kaia was very confused with everything happening and looked down at the small kid hugging her. “Uh, why is this kid hugging me. Why does he know my name?” 

Claire agreed with her. “Yeah, who’s the squirt?”

“Dean and Cas’ kid. Kind of.” Jody told them as she leaned against the wall with a smile. Dean and Cas had not explained who the kid was yet and given how he was clinging to Kaia; Jody was looking forward to seeing how the conversation went. Free entertainment. 

Claire raised her eyebrows, and her mouth was open wide. “He is your kid?” She smiled teasingly at the two of them. If they had a kid it somehow meant they had gotten their shit together and Claire had been waiting for that for a long time and would now make fun of them for taking too long. 

“Yeah. Well, he is our kid but also Sam’s and Eileen’s… they’re like their uncle and aunt but also second set of parents.” Dean explained.

Cas rolled his eyes—fondly— at Dean’s wacky explanation. “That’s Jack.” 

Recognition dawned on Kaia’s face as she looked down at the kid, then back at Cas, then at the kid. “Jack? Jack as in the dorky guy who saved my ass from the Bad Place a few months back?” 

Dean nodded. “Yeah. Same guy, just, smaller. An actual toddler now.” 

Kaia looked even more confused than before but knelt down to be at Jack’s eye level and smiled. “Hey, Jack. Good to see you again.” She said awkwardly. Having no idea how to deal with kids and having one latched onto her was not how she envisioned her Saturday going. 

“Hi!” Jack grinned and his whole face lit up but then he frowned and slowly moved his hand to touch Kaia’s face. He carefully poked the bruise on her cheek. “You hurt.” 

Kaia smiled at him warmly. “I’m okay. It doesn’t hurt.” She lied. It didn’t hurt  _ much _ , but she could still feel the bruise throbbing in her skin every time she talked or moved her face. 

Jack shook his head, unconvinced. “Donna said the same, but she was hurting. I could feel it.” He then scrunched his nose and his tongue poked out as he concentrated, his hand glowed white and after a few seconds the light and the bruise were gone. “There.”

Cas turned his neck to glance at Dean, throwing him a ‘since when can he heal’ face. Dean smiled apologetically and mouthed at him. “He healed Donna a few minutes ago.” 

Cas gave a nod and turned his attention back to Jack. He knew theoretically, Jack could heal and use many of his powers, but he thought they were dormant and would appear as time passed. Apparently, that time came much sooner than expected. 

“Thanks.” Kaia touched her cheek, not feeling the bruise anymore and smiled at the kid. It reminded her back when they first met when Jack healed her and got her out of that place. 

Claire, having not met Jack before and being utterly confused about everything threw a questioning glare at both Dean and Cas. “So, Jack?” 

Dean threw his best fake smile and shrugged. “Long story.” 

Claire glanced at Kaia, no doubt having an unsaid conversation between them and when Kaia nodded, Claire sat down on the couch, hand holding her head and looked at them, smiling. “It’s okay, we have time.”

Dean knew there was no getting out of having to explain everything again, so he sighed. “Fine... I should just record the whole explanation for the next time someone inevitably asks what happened with Jack and the Chuck problem.” he muttered the last part to himself. 

Eileen got bits of the conversation from reading their lips and knew enough to understand Jack should not be present. Ever since she arrived at the bunker, and learned the story herself, it was an unsaid rule that if Jack didn’t remember something, they would avoid trying to make him remember. Which meant keeping anything Chuck related away from him. 

“Jack.” She called out to him and once she had the toddler’s attention, she signed at him. She moved her hands so that it looked as if she was pulling something towards her, with her hand out, open and facing up, slightly bent. That was the sign for ‘want’ then she signed ‘play’ by sticking the thumbs and pinkie out while the rest of the fingers were tucked in and wiggled her hands. Then she signed ‘outside’, moving her hand open near her face and moving it away while closing it. 

Jack mimicked her signing slowly, doing his best to understand it. It was clear the moment he understood because he started jumping up and down and ran towards Eileen, nodding enthusiastically. “Yes! Let’s go play outside!”

Eileen grabbed his hand and they both left outside to play with the leaves and whatever else they found. As she and the kid were leaving the living room Dean threw a very relieved and thankful look at her and signed ‘thanks’. He had his hand flat open, and his fingers were near his lips, then moved his hand forward with a quick smile. 

Once the kid was out of earshot, he and Cas sat down at the opposite couch than Claire. Kaia moved from where she was and sat next to her. Claire put an arm around her, it was second nature to sit like that at this point. 

Dean saw how they were sitting close together, did a double take and opened his mouth to ask about it but then thought otherwise and just began explaining. 

Apparently, Claire wasn’t entirely caught up on who Jack was at all. All she knew was he was a Nephilim who Kaia knew and had a connection to the Winchesters. When she saved Sam and Dean from the Bad Place, and lost Kaia, she was aware Jack existed, but she had been grieving too much to care about details. Then time passed and more important things arose, so she forgot to get all the information. So, Cas and Dean had to explain from the very beginning. 

They told her about Jack being born a few years back and basically growing up to an adult body in seconds, but he still had the naivety of a kid. They did a quick summary on the apocalyptic alternate universe since she did know about it and told them both about Jack saving them, losing his soul, getting it back, saving them again up until Chuck’s defeat and Jack’s new role and getting de-aged. 

Claire heard everything, listening attentively and keeping from saying too many comments under her breath. Once they were done telling them everything, she blinked at then and chuckled. 

“What?” Dean asked. Out of all the reactions he expected, chuckles was not one of them. 

“God is my little brother.” She smiled, shocked. She had no idea how this had become her life. uttering those words is not something she ever thought she would say. 

Cas tilted his head. “That’s not exactly correct.”

“Yeah, it is. Look, Jack is practically your kid, and Dean’s, right?” 

“Yes.”

“Cas, you’re practically wearing my dad, well, a vessel that looks like him. And you both have become some really weird version of dads to me these last few years.” Claire shrugged. “I mean, out of all the adults Jody has the more rights to be my parent but you’re somewhere there too. So, yea, he is like my brother. My brother, the biblical god... kind of.” 

Cas smiled softly. “that’s really sweet of you. I’m sure Jack will like getting to know his sister.”

Claire shrugged it off as if it was no big deal. “Yeah, yeah.” She thought the conversation was over and was going to stand up when she saw Dean was not blinking, with a slight frown and looking towards her. “You good, old man?” She raised an eyebrow at him. 

Dean snapped from his thoughts and nodded. “You see us as father figures? Us? Me?” He was torn between feeling surprise and warmth. Sure, he wouldn’t admit it before, but he was protective of Claire and saw her as somewhat of an adoptive daughter... but she thought the same of him?  _ That  _ he didn’t expect. 

“Duh... ever since the uh, werewolf incident a few years back.” She told Dean. She was a bit uncomfortable bringing it up, since remembering that brief time she was a werewolf wasn’t fun. And she wasn’t keen on emotional moments. “I thought you had that no chick flick rule.” She joked to ease the tension of the conversation. 

Dean laughed and dropped the conversation. “Yeah, okay. Enough chick flicks. Now let’s go put the table. Sam, Alex and Patience should be back soon and I’m starving.” 

________

An hour and a half later everyone was sitting at the table. They had brought in extra chairs and a plastic table to work as an extension of the dinner table to fit everything and let everyone have a proper seat. 

Jody was sitting at one end of the table, with Donna at her right side. On her left was Kaia next and Claire, and between them was Jack sitting on a stack of books on his chair. He had demanded to sit next to Kaia. Next to Claire, Dean and Cas had their seats at the table. 

Next to Donna was Eileen and Sam, followed by Patience and at the other end of the table across from Jody was Alex. 

The food was put in the middle of the table in a row, thanks to Cas and Claire who helped get the table ready while Dean had helped Jody and Donna at the kitchen getting everything ready. 

The conversations flowed easily as they ate. Nothing more than small talk at the beginning since everyone was hungry and the food was delicious. Jack got his kid-sized burgers and was showing them off to Kaia and Claire since they were next to him. Every few minutes everyone’s small conversations would get interrupted by Jack. “I helped make the pies! And burgers” he would repeat it a lot. Every. Single. Time. Someone served themselves one of those foods. 

By the time the main course was done, Sam was talking to Alex about some all-green recipes that were healthy. Cas and Donna were talking to each other while the rest had slightly larger conversations between them. Jack was busy playing Subway Surfers on Claire’s phone. 

“So, any new jobs?” Dean asked Claire. 

“Well, Kaia and I just finished hunting a wraith. But there’s signs of a possible werewolf den a few towns over. Lots of people dead without a heart. Thought we might check it out in a few days.” Claire took a sip from her drink. 

“Do you have an idea of how big the den is yet?” Eileen asked, intrigued. 

“Not sure, but according to Claire it looks big.” Kaia told them. 

“Purebloods?” Dean was concerned. He knew Claire had been hunting for a while but he still worried, too many hunters were lost that way. 

“Don’t know yet. Unlikely we can find out before we go check it out.” Claire said. 

“Well, you should. Purebloods have more control when they shift and tend to be more dangerous since they are smarter. The ones who are changed later in life have less control, more amnesia during their kill periods. Makes them more erratic.” Eileen told them. 

“Yeah, both are slightly different to handle. Just be glad you don’t have to deal with the superpowered werewolves Michael created, those were a bitch to kill.” Dean huffed. 

“Language.” Jody chastised. “And Claire, you two have to be careful. If it seems you will be outnumbered by a lot, you don’t go by yourselves. You know the rules.” 

“Yea, I  _ know _ .” Claire sighed and rolled her eyes. Having an idea, she sat straighter and smiled mischievously. “Actually, it would be good to have backup. Eileen, I have heard you talk about hunting. You’re experienced right?”

Eileen nodded. “Been hunting since I was sixteen.”

Kaia knew where her girlfriend was getting, and she chimed in. “Want to join us?”

“It would be a quick hunt, a week at most.” Claire looked thrilled at the idea. She would love to go with an experienced hunter that seemed chill about it. Because the few times she had gone with adult hunters, it was Jody, Donna or Dean and Sam that one time. And they had been too overprotective. But Eileen, she had talked earlier and the more she knew her the more she liked her. 

Eileen grinned. “I’m in. We do have to do some research before going though.” 

“That’s fair.” Kaia said. 

“Can I go too?” Patience spoke up for the first time in that conversation. She barely hunted, stuck mostly to finishing her high school studies and better her psychic abilities. But hearing them plan the hunt, she thought it would be good to join them. Be part of a hunt for once that she could be prepared beforehand for once. 

Jody and Claire spoke at once. “I don’t think it's a good idea.” “Better not.”

Patience sighed and hunched over. 

“Listen, you aren’t as experienced in hunting as you should be to go with them. Taking on werewolves, especially a pack, takes lotsa skills.” Donna had stopped her conversation with Cas to listen in when she realised the subject had changed to hunting. 

“But how am I going to help if I can’t ever go anywhere?” Patience spoke. 

Dean, Sam and Cas looked out of place. They weren’t such big fans of dinner discussions. They never had to deal with family arguments at the table growing up, since they never had family dinners in the first place. So, they kept quiet and drank their wine. 

“I’m not saying you can’t hunt, I told you before when you moved in that it was your decision to choose what life to lead. I’m just telling you to be careful, I don’t want you killed.” 

“Claire used to go solo hunting before, and she is fine.” Alex chimed in, partly to help Patience, partly to cause more chaos. 

Claire glared at her. “I learned my lesson of not hunting alone, did you? Last time I checked you had been turned into a vamp.” 

“That makes no sense! That was years ago, it wasn’t my fault, and I wasn’t even hunting!” Alex shouted at Claire. 

“Girls. That’s enough.” Jody raised her voice with authority. “You’re not children anymore, act like it.” 

Claire tensed her jaw but nodded. “I was simply looking out for Patience. Not my fault Alex wants to send her to her death.” She said calmly. Alex was about to answer back to tell her she was not doing that when Jody intervened. 

“ _ Claire _ .” Jody shook her head. 

“Okiedokie. That really escalated quickly. So, you two should take a breather.” Donna said. 

“I’m fine.” Claire said after a few seconds. Kaia extended her hand behind Jack’s seat so she could grab her girlfriend’s hand for support. She appreciated it. 

“Yeah. Fine.” Alex mumbled. 

“Good.” Donna grinned. “As for Patience, you can’t go on a hunt with them. Not yet, but if you’re serious about it I’m sure Jody and I could help you track something, maybe a ghost. Salt and burn, the easy stuff first.”

Patience smiled relieved that she was given a chance. “Yes. That would be great! Thank you so much.” 

That one conversation died out rather quickly afterwards. Claire and Alex sat awkwardly in their spots eating their pie and not saying much. 

“You’re not gonna yell anymore?” Jack asked after a few moments of silence. His voice was tiny and unsure. Phone still in his hand, he looked around the table. 

Dean winced at Jack’s question and the rest of the table were slightly uncomfortable and pained at his words. It really wasn’t the best idea to have brought that conversation with Jack at the table, even if he had been distracted. 

Cas was about to speak to calm him down, but Claire motioned him with her hand to let her handle it. 

She moved her chair back and positioned it, so she was sitting facing Jack and grabbed his hands. He was looking at the phone. “Hey, Jack. Look at me for a second.” Claire told him brightly. Jack did as told. “I’m sorry for being loud and yelling, I promise we won't do it again and we didn’t want to make you feel bad.” 

Jack shrugged. “It’s okay.” He didn’t look fully convinced but he wasn’t mad. 

“No, it wasn’t good of us to yell.” Claire told him softly. “But let me make it up. Do you want to come play some video games with me and Kaia?” 

“Video games?” Jack squinted his eyes and tilted his head. Claire stiffed a laugh as she saw how much Jack and Cas were alike. 

“Like what you were playing on my phone, but better.” 

Jack lit up and nodded. “Yes!”

Claire looked up to Cas and Dean to ask them if it was okay. Once they nodded Claire stood up and picked Jack up. “If you’ll excuse us. We’re going to teach this squirt some fun.” 

“I’m not a squirt.” 

“Yes, you are.” Kaia laughed warmly. She stood up from her chair and followed Claire upstairs to her room where the game console was. 

Once they were gone, Alex and Patience practically excused themselves, making up some excuse they had to do something. Now only the older adults were at the table. 

“Kaia’s been good for Claire.” Cas pointed out with a hint of a smile. He had seen how they acted together, and he could feel Claire’s happiness radiating from her. He was grateful she had found some peace after everything. 

“You betcha.” Donna agreed. 

“She is smiling more now, and isn’t being as reckless on hunts ever since Kaia came back.” Jody said. 

Dean had already picked up on the fact they were together, but he still had a few questions. “Are they like you two? —how long have they…” he trailed off, knowing he wasn’t being great at asking but hoping Jody would get it, nonetheless. 

“If you’re asking if they are common knowledge like we are and it’s you that didn’t get the memo? Not really, they aren’t hiding it but not everyone knew. As for how long, since Kaia came back. But Claire loved her since the Bad Place incident. Her death broke a piece of her.” 

“Huh.” Dean didn’t expect it to be that long. He was starting to suspect he needed to pay more attention to the relationships around him because he had already missed the fact Donna and Jody had been together for a year and now them. 

“I’m surprised you didn’t pick up on it.” Sam said, amused. “She acted the same way you did when you lost Cas and went all widower mode.” 

“It wasn’t the same.” Dean tried to argue. 

“Like father, like daughter.” Cas smiled when Dean threw him a ‘really? You’re on his side?’ glance. 

“Dude, you practically shut down completely. It was weeks’ worth of unbearable brooding and acting as if nothing was wrong. Even though it was.” Sam paused. “And from what Jody told me back then, when I would call to check up on them, Claire acted the same.”

“I wasn’t acting like a widower.” Dean took a sip from his wine, holding the cup entirely wrong, grabbing the stem of the glass with his whole fist. 

“You totally were.” Eileen nodded. 

Sam but the inside of his cheek to keep from smiling. “See? Even she knows.”

Eileen looked at Sam with a glint of something in her eye and grinned. “Yeah, I know even if I wasn’t there because  _ someone _ ,” she glanced at Sam to make it clear she was talking about him. “Spent a good chunk of the margarita night, complaining about it. I’m glad those two got together for them, but mostly for Sam’s sake.” She joked. 

Sam almost spit out the drink he was having and looked slightly embarrassed. “I told you that in confidence….” 

Dean laughed at Sam’s reaction and held onto Cas’ shoulder for support. Glad that the topic of conversation was around Sam now and not him. 

“Dean, imagine how oblivious and so obviously gone for Cas that your brother had to spend so much time complaining about feeling like the world’s biggest third wheel. Think about that.” She teased wholeheartedly and Dean knew she didn’t mean it as a bad thing. “Oh, the things Sam complained about you two...” She laughed. 

Sam was too busy drinking his wine, so he would avoid having to respond to that while Dean open and closed his mouth a few times not knowing how to respond so he chuckled nervously. 

“Eileen you’re my favourite out of these Winchesters.” Jody laughed. “You managed to leave them  _ speechless _ . You got their ass handed to them.” She held onto the table for support as she laughed. 

“Come by more often. You’re invited. Anytime” Donna said between chuckles. 

“And that they didn’t even hear our conversations about them from when we went grocery shopping the other day.” Cas smiled, sharing an inner joke with Eileen that the others didn’t get. “They would probably stay like that more often after hearing what talked about them.” 

“Oh absolutely, we would break their pretty brains with that information.” Eileen smiled and they both looked at their respective boyfriends. This is exactly what Sam referred at earlier about them ganging up on them. 

“Really?” Dean was in a good mood but did his best to look betrayed. “You are not going to defend me?” 

“Don’t drag me into that. I was dead at the time. I can’t say you weren’t a widower because I wasn’t there. don’t look at me like that. It’s the truth.” Castiel shrugged, acting innocent. “But I do feel touched that you grieved my death with such intensity. It’s nice to know you cared.” He thought back at the time the Empty had told them no one mourned him and that there was no point in going back. The empty had told him he knew who he loved, and it didn’t matter, he almost believed it. 

“Yeah of course I cared, you dumbass.” Dean said with no harshness to it. 

“I prefer Cas, less dumb, less ass.” Cas half smiled.

Dean smiled at the memory of the first time he said that and snorted. “Yeah yea.”

Jack came running down the stairs, careful not to fall, and speeded through the many people there to get to Cas. Once he was there, he tugged on his trench coat to get his attention, even though Cas was already paying attention to him. 

“Cas, Cas, Cas.” Jack asked energetically. 

“Yes, Jack?”

“Come play with us. Game is very, very fun. And I want to play with you. Claire said I could come find you and then I can tell you how to play. And, and, and Kaia said I’m getting good at the game! I almost won!” Jack continued tugging the sleeve on Cas’ trench coat as he spoke. 

Cas smiled at his very hyperactive kid and picked him up. “I would love to play with you. But you need to teach me how because I’m not familiar with it.”

“Yes! The controls are in Claire’s room. Its Maro Ka’t.”

Dean grinned. “You’re playing Mario Kart?”

“Yes!” Jack nodded. 

“Alright, have fun you two.” Dean smiled lovingly as his two favourite people happily chatted and made their way upstairs. 

“Dude... you’re so gone on him.” Eileen said after a few moments of silence. 

Dean huffed and signed at her. “Shut up.”

Eileen took her index finger with her middle finger and tapped them together with her thumb, signing “no.” She grinned. 

Dean laughed and shook his head. 

_____

“I don’t understand. How can this controller have any comparison to an actual steering wheel? It’s counterproductive to learn to drive the cars on the screens with this.” He motioned to his nunchuck. 

Claire groaned in frustration and to hide a laugh at Cas’ many fails to understand the Wii remote. “This has nothing to do with actual driving. In the game you speed and crash onto the other cars to get ahead.”

“Huh.” Cas looked at the screen again. “I think I understand. Now which of the funny cars do I control?”

“That one in the bottom right square of the screen, Jack is the top right, I’m at the top left and Kaia is the bottom right square.” 

“Okay. That makes sense.” Cas said seriously and waited for Claire to start the round again. 

They decided to play so that they were only racing between the four of them without any other karts. It was easier to let Jack win like that and it helped Cas get the hang of it. 

By the fifth round Cas got more familiar with the controls and by the seventh round he managed to not end in last place. 

Jack decided the best spot to play was on Cas’ lap, feet dangling off the bed while he held the controller that was too big for his hands. Meanwhile Cas had his arms around Jack, holding his control in front of the kid so that they could both play. He was at the end of the bed and closest to the tv. 

Claire and Kaia were leaning on the wall of the bed, legs sprawled, taking up more than half the space of the bed, both joking and trying to out win each other on the game. 

Claire played as Dry Bones and Kaia as King Boo. Meanwhile Jack chose Toad and Cas chose Yoshi. They did various rounds, purposely avoiding rainbow road for the sake of the kid. But Claire was looking forward to beating Cas at it when Jack wasn’t playing. 

They had played for no more than two hours when Dean knocked on the door and peeked his head in the room. “Having fun?”

Claire smiled at him and nodded, same with Kaia. Jack just bounced excitedly and exclaimed very loudly. “Yes! Claire won this round. I won some, with the fishes! And the cows!”

“No way!” Dean exclaimed. “Fishs and cows?” 

Jack nodded. “They were two different games.” He raised two fingers up. 

Cas smiled and looked at Dean. “He won the ‘Peach Beach’ and the ‘Moo moo meadows’ even though he got distracted with the animals and forgot to accelerate the kart for a few seconds.”

Dean chuckled and ruffled Jack’s hair after entering the room. Jack continued to ramble. “Claire won the dolphin square!”

“Delfino Square. That's the name of the track.” Claire corrected nicely. 

“Yeah! That! But I won after Kaia and Claire.”

Dean grinned and his face was all soft. “Really? That’s awesome, buddy!”

“Wanna play?” Kaia asked. “We could switch controls every few rounds.” 

Dean shook his head. “It’s okay, I’ll just sit here and keep you guys company.” He sat on a chair near the bed and leaned back. 

“C’mon. Don’t be a grumpy old man.” Claire threw her control at him which he caught automatically. 

“I’m not grumpy.” Dean said. 

“So, you’re admitting you’re old.” Claire teased. 

“Pfft, I’m not old.” Dean was actually surprised he made it this far. Almost forty-two was old for him but he could not be happier where he was right now. He was only responding on principle. “Fine. I’ll play.” He acted like he was doing them a favour, but everyone knew he was excited to play. He never got one as a kid, but he always wanted a video game console. 

“You know how to play, or should we explain the controls?” Kaia asked. 

Before Dean could respond Jack declared he would help. “I’ll teach you.” Jack hopped off from Cas’ lap and climbed onto Dean’s lap with a little help. “This one is so you can move around, you swish it around. Then that one is to make it go nyoom! It goes fast. Then the tiny button is for special stuff when you get the colourful boxes.” He pointed to each of the buttons and then once he was finished, he looked at Dean’s face waiting for a reply. 

Dean made all the appropriate faces of surprise and interest as the kid rambled and made sure to remember the controls. “Thanks, bud, the tutorial is very helpful.”

“Now we can play!” Jack announced and squiggled his way off Dean and sat with Cas again, grabbing his nunchuck and Wii remote. 

Kaia passed her game control to Claire so they could play a few rounds while she watched. And the game started. The first round Dean was absolutely lost and was losing by a lot. He got the hang of it by the second round and passed to third place. 

Some games they let Jack win, others they would try to play all or nothing. Cas won once while Claire got in second place and Dean in third which he didn’t let them live it down. He was overjoyed he won over them after all the light-hearted gloating they were doing. 

Kaia played a few rounds with Jack, Cas and Dean and then Dean stopped playing a few so that Claire could play again. Time passed quickly yet neither one of them noticed. 

“We need to play the rainbow road.” Claire exclaimed. “Jack, is it okay if you don’t play this round so your dads and us can play one track?” She asked. 

Jack was thoughtful but he nodded. “Yes, but I want to see the game.”

“Of course!” 

“What’s this rainbow road?” Dean and Cas both asked. 

Claire snorted at their same response and joked. “It’s a track that can only be played if you’re gay. That’s why it's rainbow.” Kaia kept a straight face as her girlfriend spoke and hoped they believed her. 

“What?” Dean made a face, raised eyebrows and his eyes wide open. 

“I don’t understand how can the game know someone’s sexuality.”

Claire and Kaia exchanged a look and then busted out laughing. “I’m kidding.” Claire said between laughs. “It’s rainbow road because the track is a literal rainbow.” 

“Oh.” Cas said. 

“Yeah. It's the most difficult one.” Kaia said. 

“Well then, let’s play it, kiddo. We don’t have all day.” Dean leaned back on his chair and waited for the game to start. He absolutely did have all day, but it was just retaliation for the old man comment earlier. 

___

Jody went up the stairs quietly. She could hear the laughter from downstairs and she had to go see it. She loved when her kids were happy and to be honest, she can’t remember the last time she heard them laugh like that, if they ever did. 

She peeked into the room, everyone there unaware she was there since they were too busy laughing and playing their video games. Smiling to herself she pulled out her phone and snapped a picture. This was something to treasure for the rest of her days. 

Later she would get it framed and send a copy to Dean. 

In the picture one could almost hear their laughter. Claire was using Kaia’s legs as a pillow while she held her game control up in the air, she was screaming excitedly something about their latest game. Kaia had her eyes shut from laughing. Jack was sitting on Cas’ shoulders, hugging his head with his whole self as he looked at the TV, eyes widen in awe as he watched them play. 

Cas was laughing too, his eye crinkles showed he was scrunching his nose. Dean had his controls on his hand and his whole body was facing the tv, except for his eyes. He was clearly staring at Cas, Jack and Claire. His eye wrinkles were more prominent now that he was grinning and his mouth was half open, half a smile. He was clearly mid-sentence of saying something, probably the reason they were all laughing. 

Jody could practically feel the love radiating from the picture and she felt her heart metaphorically grow three sizes. 

She left them to their own thing and went back downstairs to show the others the picture and send it to them via their group chat they created earlier. 

_________

“You sure you don’t want us to help out?” 

Eileen smiled and shook her head. “This is a girl’s event only.” She teased. “We will be alright; we are actually good at our jobs you know?”

“I know... I may get a bit overprotective sometimes. As you have said before.” Sam smiled nervously. “I know you got this but still, be careful.”

“I will. It's just a hunt not far from here. The werewolf den doesn’t seem to be too bad and if we need backup Jody and Donna will be near.” Eileen signed as she spoke. “I should worry about you.” She hadn’t forgotten the incident with Jack and the soul thing. Sam seemed better after whatever Cas told him but she still worried. 

Sam made a face. “Me? I’m fine. We are just going back to the bunker and take it from there. All we have to worry about is Jack and he has been more than great these past few weeks.” Famous last words. 

“Fine. But anything happens, text me. I’ll let you know when the hunt is over.”

Dean walked by, just having said goodbye to Donna and Jody. He carried his duffel bag to his car and spotted Eileen on the way. “Take care.” He signed. “They won’t know what hit ‘em.” 

“Take care of the boys for me.” Eileen jokingly said, referring to Sam Cas and Jack as the boys in question. 

“Always.” Dean said. “Have you seen Claire or Jack?”

“I think they went back inside a few minutes ago.” 

“Thanks.” Dean left his bags in the car and went back inside. He had already said goodbye to everyone except Claire. 

He found her with Jack and Cas in her room. 

“Just like Mario kart you move with this and that button.” Claire pointed at a device in Jack’s hand. 

“What do you have there?” Dean asked. 

Jack turned to see his dad. “game! Claire gave it to me!”

“Oh really?” Dean smiled at Claire. 

“It’s a Nintendo DS.” Claire shrugged. “Had it stored from when I was a kid and thought the squirt would use it more than I do.” 

“Claire has been explaining to Jack how to play the multiple games in it. There’s one where you can have pets. The dogs are quite adorable.” Cas told him. He had been with them as she explained it because he wanted to spend some more time with his kids before he left. “There’s another one where he is supposed to be a donkey. it’s quite odd.” 

“It's from something called Shrek!” Jack exclaimed happily. “Claire said I needed to tell you we should watch it.” 

“Yeah, how come he hasn’t seen the classic.” 

“He has seen Scooby Doo, that's all the classics he needs to know. That and Nemo.” Dean said. 

“Shrek is a classic and he needs to watch it.” Claire shrugged. “Those are facts.” 

“I’ll show it to him at the bunker.” Dean promised. “But only if you’re careful. You girls take care.”

“Yes  _ daad _ .” Claire rolled her eyes but smiled. 

“I can fly again. So, any indication that things go sideways, and you pray to me. I’ll be there in a matter of seconds.” Cas told her seriously. He would have offered to go with her from the start, but he understood Claire wanted to do it on her own. He still worried. 

“Thanks, Cas.” 

After they said their goodbyes, Sam, Dean, Cas and Jack drove back to the bunker. The return seemed much faster since they didn’t have to entertain a three-year-old for the entirety of six hours. Jack was perfectly fine playing on his new Nintendo and sleeping. 

Cas went in the back with Jack this time so Sam could sit comfortably without feeling squished and Dean drove, as usual. The way back was filled with comfortable silences and when there were conversations it was calm and relaxing. 

That all changed when they made it to the bunker and found a new visitor. One none of them had been expecting. 

As soon as they stepped out of the garage, Cas stopped them from walking to their rooms. “Someone else is here. I can sense them, they’re not human.” 

Dean and Sam immediately tensed up and grabbed their weapons they always had nearby. Dean had a look that was ready to kill anyone who had the audacity to trouble them in his home. “Hey Jack, I need you to fly to your room and be in absolute silence, can you do that?” Dean whispered as he glanced around waiting for the threat. 

Before Jack could answer they heard a pop and a man appeared in the room with them. “Whoa, I heard you knuckleheads arrived and thought I would stop by to say hello before you found me first. You know, better to let you know I’m here instead of a surprise so you don't shoot me or something. Not that it would work, but still… gotta say I was not expecting the miniature sized Cas.” he pointed at the kid in Dean’s arms, who was gripping Dean’s shirt with his hands, scared. 

Dean held Jack closer both to protect him and because he was shocked. He didn’t exactly trust the man in front of them. 

No one could believe who they were seeing. It was impossible. He was dead, well he was supposed to be dead. There’s no way he could be back. 

“Gabriel?” Cas did not blink as he stared wide eyed at his brother whom he thought long gone. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What did y'all think? Comments and Kudos are like free dopamine for me!  
> Gonna say, Gabriel is not the only one who will come back from the dead during this fic, any guesses on who is coming back too? :D
> 
> Thanks for reading! have an amazing day!


	7. A Trickster with a Story

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! sorry for the late update, I completely forgot I had not posted it yet. Hopefully the next few chapters won't take this long to post. :D  
> This is a mostly plot centric chapter, but the next will have way more baby Jack fluff.  
> Hope you like it! Enjoy!

“Gabriel?” 

“The one and only.” Gabriel smirked and did a dramatic little bow. “So, I was originally just going to pop in, quick hello, ask what the fuck happened and then be on my merry way. Now I’m rethinking my plan because I want to know how the hell did you three end up with a kid? Last I was alive you guys were fighting doomsday three-point-oh.” He casually strolled through the garage and saw both Sam and Dean tense up and held their weapons closely. “Relax, I’m not going to do anything.” He put a hand to his chest and dramatically pouted. “I’m hurt you guys think that, _really_.” 

Out of all of them, Cas was the only one who lowered his angel blade completely. Sam was more wary of the situation, but he lowered his weapon ever so slightly. Dean was the only one that didn’t move. He was holding Jack tightly with one arm and was glaring at the archangel. 

“How the hell are you alive?” Cas asked. 

Gabriel laughed dryly. “Well, that  _ sure is _ a funny story… one I would rather tell when those two yahoos stop looking at me like they want to kill me. Been there, done that.” 

“So, you actually died?” Sam frowned. This would not be the first time he faked his death. But it had seemed so real. He saw his dead body in the apocalypse world. 

“Yeah. Do Not Recommend. Don’t really want to do that again, ever.” Gabriel shuddered. “Once is enough thank you very much.”

“Okay. So why are you back?” Dean questioned. It wasn’t like he hated the man, he did save their assess a few years back with the alternate Michael. But the timing was too weird, and he had a kid to look after now. He wasn’t taking any chances. 

Gabriel turned to face him with a glint of something in his eye. “What? I can’t come say hi to my little bro?” He smirked, knowing full well that was not the response they wanted to hear. They wanted answers. And he would tell them, eventually. He was going to have some fun first. 

“How are you alive, Gabriel?” Cas asked. 

“Nevermind that. What I would like to know is who is the kid?” Gabriel smiled softly at the kid and wiggled his fingers, waving at him. 

Dean held him close and Jack frowned. “Is he bad?” The kid asked. 

Dean glared at Gabriel but spoke softly. “No. It’s okay Jack he won’t hurt you.” Gabriel knew that it was a threat and a warning towards him. Dean was not letting anything happen to his kid. 

Gabriel however, had no intention to harm the kid at all. “I would never hurt a kid—” he spoke with indignation. “Wait, did you say Jack? As in the Jack I met last time I was here?” Gabriel stared at the kid and it was now that he paid closer attention that he could feel the kid’s power radiating from him. Mixture of Nephilim and something else. 

“Yes.” Cas said. “That’s Jack.”

Gabriel had so many questions, but he chose to talk to the kid first. “Hello Jack, I’m your Uncle Gabriel. Nice to meet you.” He smiled and walked at him. He glanced at Dean to let him know he meant no harm and Dean, after a moment of indecisiveness, nodded but still was wary. Gabriel took it as a cue to snap a chocolate from thin air and give it to the kid. “You like chocolate?”

Jack’s eyes went wide at the candy and he was about to take it but stopped, looked at Dean to see if it was okay and when his dad nodded, he took the candy bar from Gabriel’s hand. “Thanks.”

“It’s my pleasure, kiddo.” Gabriel smiled softly. He wanted to get to know his nephew more, but he could feel Dean’s glare. He stepped back; he knew better than to push his luck. “Well, I have questions. Like, many, many questions.”

“Later.” Sam told him. They had just gone back from a long drive and they were all tired. Jack was the priority and now that they knew Gabriel wasn’t an immediate threat, they were going to deal with it later. “Jack has to take a bath, eat and sleep.”

“Yeah. We will deal with you later.” Dean told him. He glanced at Cas and it was clear to everyone in the room they were having an unsaid conversation between them. After a few shared looks and head movements, Cas gave a nod and Dean relaxed. “Jack let’s get you something to eat. You can’t just have a chocolate for dinner, okay. Then I can read you a bedtime story. Sounds good?”

Jack nodded. “Yeah! Can I choose the story?”

“Of course!” Dean told him as he began walking away from the garage, Sam following him while Cas stayed behind with Gabriel looking out of place. 

“Yay!” Jack turned to see Cas and Gabriel. “Are they coming too?” Jack asked, hopeful.

Gabriel smiled at the kid but didn’t answer. Cas had put a hand on Gabriel’s shoulder to stop him and he answered instead. “Not today Jack, I have to talk to your uncle now.”

“Oh… okay.”

“But I’ll read you two bedtime stories tomorrow, how does that sound?” Cas didn’t like seeing his kid disappointed so he hoped this would change it. 

Jack smiled brightly and nodded. “Okay!” He was cheerful now. “Bye Cas! Bye gabr- gabreel—” Jack was having trouble pronouncing his name. 

“You can call me Gabe.” 

“Bye Gabe!” He waved happily as Dean carried him away from the room. 

Once Sam, Dean and Jack were gone, they were both left in a very awkward silence, it was clear cas was looking at him wearily for any sign of a threat yet he was also rather glad to see his brother was alive. The silence spread out for a couple of minutes, minus the occasional sound Gabriel would do due to boredom. 

“Good to see you are still alive Cassie.” Gabriel said truthfully. “Mind catching me up with what I missed? Is Michael still a threat?” he decided enough silence was enough, Dad knows he got enough of that lately. 

“No. That was taken care of a year ago. Jack killed him.” Cas said simply. “Look, I promised to not tell too much until Dean gets back. We don’t know anything about why you’re back or how you’re back. So, I won’t go into detail until I’m sure you can be trusted.”

Gabriel was about to complain and look hurt that Cas implied he couldn’t be trusted, but he had a point, besides he decided to tease his little brother and have some fun instead. “Oh Cassie, you’re really gone on him huh?” Gabriel smiled as Cas rolled his eyes. “Dean said this, Dean said that, Dean did this…” he copied Cas’ voice when he said it. It wasn’t like he was being rude, just some light-hearted teasing. “Really bro, Dean is as oblivious as he is pretty, and you should just tell him. Dad knows Dean likes you back.” Gabriel wiggled his eyebrows and looked expectantly at Cas. He was aiming at an angry reaction, maybe an annoyed reaction at his words because he knew how much Cas stuck up for Dean when anyone talked about him. 

What he didn’t expect is Cas looking at him uninterested and with a mischievous glint in his eyes. “Dean knows.”

Gabriel stopped everything he was thinking and stared at Cas. “Come again?”

“Dean knows I love him. I told him.”

“Huh.” Gabriel said unintelligibly. So that’s why his teasing didn’t work as before. Cas had told Dean.  _ Wait what? _ “You told Dean? Wow, I did not expect you to do that. I had lost hope on it last time I saw you. So, are you two…”

“Yes, we are together.” Cas confirmed. 

“Happy for you, bro.” Gabriel smiled, and he meant it. It also meant he was gifted with the amazing possibilities of new content to tease him about. 

“Thank you.” Cas simply answered. They were quiet for a few moments when he talked again. “You think Dean is pretty?” He asked, half teasing half warning. Recalling Gabriel’s words a few minutes back. 

“Whoa, before you get any ideas and kill me out of jealousy, Dean is so not my type. I can do better. But I’m also not blind.” Gabriel shrugged. 

“Sure.” Cas didn’t ponder in his reply for long. “So, how long have you been back?” He motioned Gabriel to follow him and they made their way out of the garage. Cas thought it best to wait in the library, there was more space there and places to sit. 

“Eh, still getting used to the passage of time again, but not long, I don’t think so at least. Couple of days? Maybe a few hours?”

“You came back and went straight to wait for us?”

“Kinda, yeah. Got back, made a few adjustments here and there, and came looking for you.”

“Why does this not feel like a social visit?” Cas asked knowing well Gabriel never just shows up to chat. He needed something or was planning something. 

By then, they made it to the library. Sam and Dean were still taking care of feeding Jack, so they were nowhere near. 

“It wasn’t. I needed your assistance. Thought since you and the Winchesters are always in the middle of the important worldwide supernatural problems, it would be a good place to start gaining information.” Gabriel paused.

“What kind of assistance?  _ What  _ did you  _ do _ ?” Cas raised an eyebrow and tensed. 

“Nothing bad, jeez. Look I missed who knows how long while I was dead— wait, how long have I been gone?”

“About two years, give or take.” 

“Ah shit. Oh well, point is, I was gone and apparently a lot of things happened. So, I need to know what the world has been up to, so I don’t get stabbed in the back by a problem I was not aware of.” 

Cas squinted his eyes, not knowing if he should believe him or not. “So, you didn’t come for Jack or to mess with us?”

“Of course not! I didn’t even know about the pipsqueak being tiny. I told you it was not a social visit...However my schedule changed when I noticed your little family domesticity. I do want to get to know my little nephew so I  _ will  _ be turning this into a social visit.” 

“You’re crazier than I thought if you think I’m letting you near our kid in the near future.” Dean spoke. He entered the room, Sam behind him and Jack nowhere to be seen. Dean hadn’t kicked Gabriel out yet because they needed answers. If he was back, they needed to know how and why and act accordingly. 

“Ouch. Such a lack of trust.” Gabriel said with a monotone voice. 

“I have my reasons.” Dean shrugged. 

“Jack?” Cas asked Dean. He figured the kid was asleep, but he wanted to know if there were any problems while they tucked him in. 

“He is okay. He argued to have two bedtime stories since you weren’t there, but he is asleep now.” Dean told him with a soft expression then it hardened when he looked at Gabriel. “So, what’s your plan?”

“As I’ve told your angel, I’m merely here for news on what I have missed and to get to know the kid. Nothing more.” He paused. “Last I’ve heard you were fighting Michael from the other world; Cas tells me you have that covered but I know you two can’t stay away from danger, what catastrophes have I missed lately?”

“Nuh-uh. We call the shots here.” Dean shook his head. “You tell us what the hell is going on with you. Tell us how you are alive, and then we will see what we tell you.” 

Cas saw Dean was getting worked up and he put a hand on his shoulder to calm him down. It had the needed effect and Dean took a deep breath and didn’t say anything more. 

“Dean, I believe my brother means no harm. I suppose we can come to an agreement. If he tells us what we want to hear, and you believe it. We can talk about letting him spend time with Jack.”

Dean was about to protest but he then nodded. He wasn’t happy about it, but it made sense. “Okay fine.” He turned to Gabriel. “Start talking.”

“Okaaay, fine. I’ll tell you how I’m alive. Jeez, don’t get your panties in a bunch.” Gabriel said and dramatically snapped a couch for him and fell down backwards on it, putting his feet up on the other end of the couch. “Okay, so it all started after I got killed by Michael from the ashy world. As you know, when an angel dies there’s no heaven or hell—”

“There’s the empty. Yeah, we know. Cas went there already, twice.” 

“What? Well, honestly I didn’t know what I expected but I can certainly see that happening.” Gabriel shrugged and decided to ask Cas an explanation for what the hell had he missed while he was gone. “Never mind that, so as I was saying, I died. And the next thing I remember I woke up surrounded by mostly darkness… empty.”

_ Gabriel heard a loud snap that drifted him out from his sleep. He woke slowly, disoriented and then all at once. Huh, he never really thought he would ever wake up again. Given how he knew he had definitely been killed this time.  _

_ He didn’t exactly know where he was, which didn’t happen to him that often. His dad never really gave him any confirmation on where angels go when they die... well, it’s not like any angel had died yet when he asked that and it wasn’t like he asked his dad directly, the bastard was never home anyway. But he knew enough, he knew of the whispers of the earth and all the realms that surround it, the rumours of something beyond heaven, beyond hell, beyond time itself.  _

_ He figured that's where he was. All around him he noticed figures started to wake, just like he did, others were still sleeping peacefully as if nothing had interrupted their probable never-ending slumber, but the majority, or what he thought was the majority, were awake. Something in his gut told him that this was not supposed to happen.  _

_ Okay, new plan, find out what happened before any of them and make it so he can use it to his advantage. Easier said than done. He waddled through the vast empty, making extra sure to avoid any interaction with the people around him. Some he recognised, some he didn’t. It didn’t take him long to realise all these faces he kept seeing were angels and demons. He wanted to avoid talking to the angels at all costs. For now, he didn’t want to meet with them, not until he found out who’s doing this. Besides, he knew better than to trust his own kind. He knew what they were capable of.  _

_ He didn’t look for long, or maybe he did. It wasn’t like he had a great perception of time on a normal day and this place wasn’t exactly using the same rules of time he was used to. Point is, after who knows how long he found someone who could answer his questions.  _

_ “ _ **_It's so loud! He made it loud!”_ ** _ Someone yelled in pure fury. If Gabriel wasn’t already dead, he probably could get killed again with the sheer amount of anger they were radiating.  _

_ Gabriel put on his best charismatic face and strolled towards the person yelling. “Don’t mind me, but who made what loud?” The entity who was a pile of humanoid black goo, shifted to mirror his own image. In a matter of seconds, he was seeing a reflection of himself. “Huh, stealing my best looks, huh?”  _

__

“Okay so you met the Shadow entity from the empty, that explains it. You must have annoyed them to make them bring you back.” Dean interrupted, his face dawning in understanding. “Cas told me about them... after the first time he returned.”

“They really hated me after that. It’s in my best interest not to die again or they will make my death even more miserable than I can imagine.” Cas said. 

“Oh, so you’re what they meant by that.” Gabriel’s face twisted in recognition at something the empty had told him before. It all made sense now. But then he snapped back at Cas. “What the hell did you even— no you know what I’ll ask all my questions later. Now I’m telling my story that you buckos asked for it so you will shut your piehole and listen. And for your information I didn’t annoy them to life, quite the opposite, actually.” Gabriel ate a piece of the chocolate bar he was holding. “I helped them.”

“You what?”

“If  _ you  _ would  _ let  _ me  _ finish _ , I can tell you.” Gabriel dramatically rolled his eyes. 

__

_ “Ugh… you loud, ungrateful creatures. You could all have peaceful sleep, blissfully unaware of everything in the past and I could have my silence. It’s supposed to be a win-win situation but you wretched abominations don’t want it. You just want to make noise and not go to sleep.” The shadow entity paced quickly towards him in a defensive manner. They had a very odd accent, one Gabriel couldn't quite place. _

_ “Whoa, hold your horses there.” Gabriel raised an eyebrow and raised his hands to appease the entity. Still, he was standing still and tall, making it known he wasn’t one to mess around with. “I don’t want to impose. Seems to me you deal— are in charge here? Wherever here is?” _

_ “Yes. I am in charge of this domain, not even death herself can best me over here. But I’m sure it was her doing. She will pay for this” the entity laughed, but it wasn’t a happy laugh, it was maniac, clearly, they were losing it in frustration. “But they won't shut up.” _

_ “Who? All of them? All of us?” He motioned around at the vast space.  _

_ “Yes.” They gritted out.  _

_ “Huh… and you clearly don’t like that. I can relate, noise can be so utterly annoying, and dealing with these fuckers for eternity, oomph, yeah I see how this is a problem.” Gabriel agreed with them.  _

_ “But I will make them sleep. Force them…” the entity growled and looked mortified. Gabriel guessed because it wouldn’t be too easy to get them back to sleep again if they weren’t willing.  _

_ Gabriel grimaced. “Sure... that’s a plan, but it's not a  _ **_good_ ** _ plan. From what I’m getting, all of the demons and angels that have died in all of creation are here. There’s too many to even fathom… putting them all to sleep? By the time you get that done, new demons and angels will join them here and get woken up by the ones who aren't asleep yet, a never-ending cycle.”  _

_ Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say, Gabriel did not think they could get angrier, but the entity lashed out at him with a sucker punch that sent him flying backwards.  _

_ Gabriel was not used to being overpowered easily, the punch wasn’t as bad as he felt it. But still, he wasn’t happy with the outcome of it.  _

_ “You filthy beings, think you are above me! Mocking me! I will not stand it.” _

_ He saw the entity was walking towards him again ready for another kick and he was not taking any chances. He quickly got onto his feet and stood his ground. “Whoa, I’m not making fun of you or mocking you.” _

_ “Then do tell, how do you explain your words, angel.” They sneered at the angel word with disgust. “You think you angels can just talk your way out of this... not again.”  _

_ Not again? What? Yeah, Gabriel decided he was absolutely not opening that can of worms right now he didn’t want to die again. Could he even die here? He probably couldn’t and would be tortured for eternity if he said the bad thing again. Better not poke the bear. “I want to help you.” _

_ That took the Entity by surprise. They weren’t expecting that at all. Of course, they didn’t believe him, so they glanced at Gabriel in full judgment. “Why do you even want to help?” _

_ “Well, I see this going two ways. I help you; you help me… well not really, more like I help both of us. Believe me, this is in my best interest.” _

_ “How?” The entity snarled, confused. “I don’t think you understand what’s best for you.” They laughed pitifully.  _

_ “I don’t want to spend eternity avoiding brethren of mine that we certainly did not end on good terms. If we are all sleeping or whatever it is, we are supposed to be doing here, then I won't have that problem anymore. You see, by helping you I help myself.” _

_ “And you what? Are you just willing to go back to sleep? Eternal slumber? Just like that?” The entity looked intrigued.  _

_ “Yup. Just like that.” Gabriel mustered his best cheeky smile. “Look, I’m not saying I wouldn’t like to go back to the land of the living, there’s candy there. But I can see that's not happening any time soon, so I'm stuck here. It might as well be at peace with it... without dealing with all my family.” _

_ “Right…” the Entity was catching on. “I can see you are not like those angels with stick up their asses. I managed to put a few of them back to sleep a while ago… only took a few beatings.”  _

_ “Who—” Gabriel backtracked the question because he knew it was best to not ask it. The empty entity had just stopped trying to kill him and he wasn’t going to give them a reason to go back to actively hating him. However, the question was made, and the damage was done.  _

_ Thankfully, the entity didn’t mind, or if they did, they didn’t show it. “I honestly do not care enough to know their names... oh but I do remember two of them, they kept using their names as ranks,” they snorted “as if that held any power here. Naomi and Metatron.” _

“They were there? What did they do?” Dean all but sneered. He hated them with passion. Metatron for basically everything he did and Naomie… Dean hated her specially for what she did to Cas. He didn’t know it at the time, but Cas told him the story of the brainwashing techniques… what they made him do. And Dean wanted to bring her back just to kill her again. 

“Of  _ course _ , they were there... they are  _ dead…  _ that’s where they are supposed to go.” Gabriel explained it to him like he was a five-year-old. As if it was completely obvious. “But for your information, I didn’t even see them awake, the empty had already taken care of it.” 

“Good.” Dean said. 

“So, what happened? How do you even help the empty? Aren’t you all powerless there?” Sam asked. 

“Sort of, yeah. But not entirely.” Gabriel said before continuing his tale. 

__

_ “So, you really are set on helping me?” The entity had a look on their face that Gabriel couldn’t quite decipher.  _

_ “Yup. So, you’re going to let me help or are you going to do all the tedious, boring work on your own?” Gabriel looked at them in their eyes, waiting patiently for an answer.  _

_ “How do you even propose to be of help? It's not like you can use your archangel powers, your god can’t come here. You have no power in my domain.” The entity wasn’t mocking, they were genuinely curious as to how the archangel wanted to help.  _

_ “Simple. You have power on this whole domain, more than Dad could ever. Which means you can decide who gets their mojo back.” Gabriel paused. “Look, back in the world, I got more power than almost any being, except Luci, Mike and Dad. Anyone who is waking up here is below me if I get my grace. I could very easily snap them into sleep once again. Of course, once they’re asleep it’s your job to keep it that way... theoretically.” _

_ “Hmm.” The entity paced around Gabriel, circling him like prey. Wondering if it was worth it. “And you can simply put them all to sleep at once? Just like that?” _

_ “Well, no, I would have to do it, er, manually. I would have to put them to sleep one by one.” Gabriel answered awkwardly. ‘In theory. Because I’ve never tried something like this, ‘and least of all on this domain’ he thought.  _

_ “Perhaps that could work, but how will I know you aren’t trying to take me down? Death herself and God have been trying, I would not put it past them to bring someone else to do it.” _

_ “Well, you don’t have a way to know. But you are the one holding out the cards, you can snap me my powers, you can take them back.” Gabriel shrugged. He wasn’t really looking forward to finding out if they could do that, so for once he was going to be on his best behaviour. From what he could gather, the entity really held a grudge against Death and his Father, and he really did not want to be in the middle of it.  _

_ “Alright.” The entity pressed their fingertips onto Gabriel’s skull, and he felt how his grace was surging up. It wasn’t quite like he remembered, probably because he was dead, and his grace knew it. But it was similar enough that he could deal with it.  _

_ “Okay, let’s see if this works.” Gabriel and the entity walked up to a very confused, drowsy demon who didn’t quite understand where he was yet. “Hiya.” Gabriel didn’t wait for an answer and pressed his fingers onto the demon’s forehead and the demon slumped down, back to its eternal slumber. Seconds later the entity waved their fingers and the demon disappeared from view. He gave them a questioning look.  _

_ “I simply transported the demon somewhere else, that way it’s easier to distinguish the ones who are awake and the ones who are not going to be a bother.” They simply said.  _

_ “Okiedokie, well then, let’s get to work.” Gabriel said before going towards a woken angel, he recognised her as Dumah. He didn’t want to ponder how she had died, after all he knew this would not be the last of his siblings he encountered here. He simply smiled at her warmly before putting her back to sleep.  _

_ He went on for who knows how long, he stuck to mostly demons for now, to get used to his new task before he brought in the emotional baggage of putting down his fellow angels. Sure, they were never close, not most of them. All he knew from most of them was the fighting, picking sides back when Luci and Mike started fighting for the first time. Some he remembered as fledglings, but that’s all. It’s not like he can forge a relationship with his family when he was thought for dead for a millennium. Still, he didn’t like putting them back to sleep, regardless of what he told the Empty. It felt like he was killing them all over again, but he wasn’t, he knew he wasn’t killing them… simply making them sleep… forever. He did what he had to; it was better than the alternative. He wasn’t lying when he told the entity he did not want to deal with all of them for eternity, especially after the last decade before his death.  _

_ The Entity was hovering near. They didn’t get in his space, let him work. But they were close enough to transport the sleeping bodies away. This went on for a while, it could have been hours, or days. Time really was a mess in here. It was becoming automatic and monotonous, Gabriel wasn’t totally conscious of his work anymore, it was as easy as flipping a switch. Nothing changed. Appear next to an angel or demon, touch their head, they fell down. Repeat.  _

_ Until the Entity snapped their head as if warning bells had gone off and started cackling. Gabriel sent them a questioning look and stopped working ever so slightly.  _

_ “I have to cash in on a deal... I’ll be back. Continue with your work.” They stopped looking like Gabriel and transformed into a pile of goo before disappearing completely.  _

_ Gabriel thought it was weird but knew better than to ask. He was helping the entity to put them all back to sleep, sure, but he was making plans of his own. If they worked, it would be great and he could leave, if it didn’t work, he would simply go back to sleep, oblivious of it all. Win-win. He just hoped it would work.  _

__

“So, they just left?” Sam asked. “That’s… odd.”

“Yeah, they said something about a deal, I didn’t know people could even make deals with them but apparently it’s a thing.” Gabriel shrugged. He knew there was more than that but honestly, after all that he has been through he knew better and left well enough alone. 

“A deal?” Cas asked, he knew something Gabriel didn’t. “How long ago was it?” 

“What part of time is not working there that you do not understand? It was, a while ago, but I simply don’t know.”

“We do.” Dean’s voice was tense. “It was Cas’ deal. It has to be.”

Gabriel stopped laying on the couch and sat up, staring at Cas. If he was concerned, he didn’t show it... much. “Oh, Cassie what did you do?”

“I did what I had to.” Cas said gravely. “The entity was not happy after I escaped the empty, when Jack was dying—yes he was dying after killing Michael… long story. I made a deal, his life for mine. They accepted but wouldn’t take me until I was truly happy. Once I was there again, I couldn’t do any more tricks, and had to stay.” Cas would never take the deal back, he did it to save his son and he would do it again. 

“You and I are going to have a long talk after this.” Gabriel had so many things he wanted to say but now was not the time. “But now that I think about it, that might explain when I thought I saw you.”

“You saw  _ him _ ? What the hell?” 

__

_ Gabriel went back to his work, making sure he didn’t disrupt the already sleeping angels and demons. After a while, the entity showed up again. Gabriel could feel them arrive to the Empty, but he couldn’t see them. It was too dark, too empty and yet full of walking demons and angels he couldn’t place where they were.  _

_ He kept working and then saw a flicker of something. He turned around and, in the distance, he could have sworn he saw Cas. But Cas couldn’t have died, if he died it meant the Winchesters did too, or something bad had happened. Last he knew they were fighting Michael, what if that was still happening? He really wished he could have a solid concept of time right about now.  _

_ He tried to go after Cas, or what he thought was him but when he got there, the younger angel was nowhere to be seen. He must have imagined it.  _

_ He decided to keep to his plan and get back to work. The entity joined him eventually, they had the biggest smile on their face and were cackling as they did their job. “I win… Death thought she could overpower me and mess with my place, but… oh that deal was sweet. Wasn’t expecting the bonus of going after her.” _

_ “You killed Death?” Gabriel sounded hesitant. Not many could kill death.  _

_ “Yeah. She isn’t going to mess with me anymore. She tried to double cross me and well, that’s simply not happening.” They didn’t say anything else and they continued their arduous work of putting all of the dead demons and angels in all creation to sleep.  _

_ They worked as usual. Until the entity tensed and even Gabriel could sense a power surge. It was similar to his father’s energy, but it wasn’t exactly right. Something happened. He wasn’t at his full power to know exactly what, but it seemed the entity knew more than they let on.  _

_ They looked annoyed, but not straight up angry like they had been before. Whatever happened wasn’t big enough to warrant anger from them and he was happy for it. Less drama was always good. They muttered something about “fucking angel escaping again.”  _

_ Gabriel did not want to know. Well, he did but he knew which battles to choose, so he didn’t ask.  _

_ It could have been hours, weeks, months. Hell, if he knew. But he was finished. It appeared all angels and demons were taking care of. Now, there was only one part to his plan, and he was about to set it in motion.  _

_ However, he was interrupted by the entity themself. “Well, look at that. You actually did it.” The entity relaxed and relaxed, basking in the sweet, sweet silence. “Can you hear that? How peaceful? I can finally sleep. Back to where things were. No Death, no annoying God, no angels, nothing to come between me and my precious slumber.” They turned around to face Gabriel. “I don’t usually do this, I never do, actually, but, Thank you.” They spoke.  _

_ “No problemo.” Gabriel smirked. He purposely avoided the elephant in the room. He was the only one who was awake now, and he was trying to keep it that way as long as he could for his plan to work.  _

_ “Gabriel.” The entity called; it was clear they were going to ask a question. He looked at them, motioning them to speak. “Do you really wish to sleep for all eternity?” Gabriel was about to lie but they beat him to it. “Be honest.” _

_ “Well, I did mean it before when I said I wouldn’t mind. Least of the two evils, sleep is better than to be stuck here with the rest of the angels and demons, so I would not have entirely opposed it.” Gabriel was very careful about his wording; he was threading the line between friend or foe ever since he offered his help and he wanted to keep it like that. “However, I’m not a fool. Sure yeah, half the beings who know me would definitely say otherwise but, I would go back to the living world if I could. Of course, I would.”  _

_ The entity’s face was devoid of all expressions, it was calculatingly blank. “Why?”  _

_ “Well, as I said, there’s candy and people and booze.” Gabriel shrugged as if it was that simple. He wasn’t telling his real reasons. Sure, he didn’t exactly lie when he told them that, but he wasn’t telling the whole truth.  _

_ “And why else?”  _

_ “What?” _

_ “I know when someone is hiding something from me. I tolerated it because you were a useful tool, now I have nothing to lose and you have everything to lose. So, I am asking, what aren’t you telling me?”  _

_ Fuck. Gabriel thought. There goes his plan. He still had an ace under his sleeve, but he wasn’t keen on using it, yet. “When I died, the earth was like five different sides of screwed up and as much as I didn’t want to get involved at first, I did. And they need help…” he purposely didn’t specify who ‘they’ were, but he had a hunch the empty knew.  _

_ “Okay.”  _

_ “Okay?” Gabriel was confused. Should he use his plan B? Hope for the best? Let his idea go and just sleep? What the hell were they talking about?  _

_ “You can go back. It’s only fair, you did help me, and I don’t like being in debt. But when you die again you can’t do anything to go back, it’s just a one-way ticket, and it only works once.” _

_ “You’re raising me back from the dead?” Gabriel was dumbstruck. He hadn’t been expecting that to happen. Sure, he entertained that idea as a wish at first, but he knew better than to expect niceness just because. “Just like that? What’s the catch? I won’t have powers or something?” _

_ The entity looked moderately annoyed. “No. You will. This place has been chaos ever since one certain angel woke up when he wasn’t supposed to. Then Lucifer tried to escape, then he did, and he didn’t. It's been a constant pain in the ass. Now, there’s a new sheriff in town, as they say. And I’m calculating the best way to keep a new balance now, all so I can be in peace.” _

_ Gabriel understands half of what that meant, but he didn’t want to waste this opportunity to ask what they meant when they said someone else was running the show. If he understood correctly, he could gain more than he bargained for. “If I leave, can I take others with me?”  _

_ The entity looked slightly pissed and asked him. “Why would I do that? I’m letting you go, isn’t that enough?”  _

_ “Well, yeah. But last I checked heaven was in chaos as well as half the planet. I take a few angels I can trust with me and keep it under control.”  _

_ “There’s no need for that now. I believe that has been handled.” _

_ “For  _ **_now_ ** _. Look, think of it as insurance, whatever is going on, whatever Dad is doing, it won't last forever. I can help move a few strings, make it more comfortable for your job.” Gabriel countered.  _

_ The entity smiled at him, they knew something he didn’t and that put Gabriel on edge. He was sure he was missing some crucial information. “Well, you do make a strong point. If the new order collapses or tries to attack my domain again, you would stop it? Regardless of them possibly being your allies?” _

_ “I would stop them, yeah,  _ **_not_ ** _ kill them, if I can help it.” Gabriel hoped it never got to that, but he really wanted to get out. “So? Deal?” _

_ “I can let you return to earth, with some companions that you choose, but you have to agree to some conditions. Will you make the deal?” _

_ “Let’s discuss these conditions and I’ll give my answer later. I’m not one to agree before I know all the information.” He was, but they didn’t need to know that.  _

_ Both of them discussed the terms of his coming back, and after a lengthy discussion, they reached an agreement. Gabriel could return to roam Earth, Heaven and Hell, with some of his allies. But he would have to warn the people in charge that the Empty was off limits, no meddling with it or there would be hell to pay, or worse. And if those needs were not met, Gabriel had to make sure they were. But apart from that small clause, Gabriel could do whatever the hell he pleased.  _

“And yeah. Got some angels, took them back with me. Yadah yadah… and then I’m back!” Gabriel finished explaining rather too quickly and rushed. He didn’t want to get into the details of that. 

“Whoa, whoa, so now there’s more featherly assholes back?” Dean started to worry. Angels were never good news, and he didn’t want to deal with them. 

“Who did you bring back, Gabriel?” Cas asked tensely. 

Gabriel ignored Dean and answered his brother. “Balthazar, Anna, Hannah, Samandriel, a few dozen others. I only picked those I knew I could trust with what I needed.”

“Anna? She tried to kill Sam! What the hell.”

“Tried, but she didn’t succeed. And she will leave you guys alone, don't worry. Same with the rest. They’re done with Dad’s plan and just want to try some of that free will Cas is always talking about. Sure, you fellas killed half of them, but I promise, no hard feelings.” Gabriel shrugged and snapped a bag of m&m’s to munch on. “Oh, and Crowley is back too.” He added nonchalantly, as if he just remembered that information.

“Crowley is back?” Sam’s eyes widened. “Why the hell is he back? I didn’t know you even knew about him.” 

“Yeah, yeah. I thought since you two knuckleheads were fond of the demon it would be a good welcome back present. You’re very welcome.” Gabriel smiled widely. Sure, he completely lied about that, that was not even remotely what happened, but they didn’t need to know that.

“We didn’t thank you.” Dean pointed out. 

“Well, you should have. It's a nice present.” Gabriel quipped back as he ate through his candy. “Anyway, it’s my turn to hear your story. Cause I told you what you wanted to hear. Now I want to know what the fuck happened. Why is Jack a baby and guessing on your faces as I told my story, it seems you know about what happened with Death.”

Dean vaguely paid attention to Gabriel as he stood up and left the room. He came back a minute later with four bottles of beer. “Okay,” he conceded, “you held your part of the deal. Guess it's our turn. But I don’t want to be sober for that.” He passed the other beers around. 

“Fair enough. You do know I could have snapped us some beer, right? you didn’t have to go get it.” Gabriel snapped his fingers, and his beer was changed to a much better quality one. 

Dean shot him a look but didn’t say anything. He sat down next to Cas and Sam had his own chair. “Okay, so, after you died, we still had to deal with Michael and Lucifer, which wasn’t great. To no one surprise, Lucifer played us and tried to kill Jack….” 

Dean told him about Lucifer cutting out Jack’s grace and Michael killing him, he vaguely explained how Jack almost died and moved on from it. They all took turns explaining the events of the past few years. How Jack was without a soul because he consumed it killing Michael, how Mary was killed, how Chuck came back. 

It was obvious none of them wanted to retell the horrors they had to suffer while trying to kill God, but they did. Cas told Gabriel about Chuck’s plan, how he only cared about his main characters and would create new alternate universes every time he wanted a new story. Because for Chuck, that's all they were, pawns in his game. Just puppets with a string long enough to give them the illusion of freedom. He never cared for them, not really. He only cared about his sick twisted endgame of the same overused trope of one family member killing another. 

Gabriel suppressed a shudder at the information. “Well, I knew Dad was a mean bastard but this...” he trialled off, still processing the absolute hell that was his life. “This is a new level of fucked. Yet, I can’t say I’m that surprised…” 

“Yeah, that son of a bitch is so sick and twisted he was enjoying watching us having to kill each other.” Dean took another sip of his third beer. 

They all grimaced at that and then Gabriel began laughing hysterically. They all turned at him looking rightfully confused and waited for an answer. 

“Sorry, it’s just… If I would have known all of this, I would have followed Crowley after we came back. Imagine the look on his face when he realises  _ Rowena  _ is the queen of hell.” Gabriel laughed again.

Dean snorted and had to agree. “I would have paid to see that.”

“There’s not a chance that he will try to take it from her, right?” Sam asked doubtfully. Sure, they didn’t hate Crowley and he did sacrifice himself to help them, but Rowena was more of a friend and with her in charge things were running smoothly. 

“Oh absolutely. Crowley will try to take the throne; I wouldn’t expect any less of him.” Gabriel said but didn’t look worried. “But Rowena can hold her own. I wouldn’t be too worried.”

“Yeah, that’s true.” Sam had to agree. 

“Okay, so you never finished.” Gabriel brought the conversation back to the point. “I’m guessing you guys defeated Chuck. I mean, if he disappeared the whole world and it looks fine, you fixed it. How?”

“Jack. When he came back after dying when he became a bomb, he sort of absorbed energy? We never really understood how it worked and we were running out of time. Point being, he absorbed Chuck’s powers when he was beating the shit out of us. So, with that he made Chuck human.” 

Gabriel stopped munching on his candy and looked at them like they were insane. “Hold up. Dear old dad is human now?” He snickered. Oh, this was too good to be true. “Serves him right. He always was an egotistical self-centred bitch high on power. This sure fits him.” 

“Yeah. We were supposed to kill him if our plan worked, but Dean chose to let him live.” Sam said. 

“Yeah well,” Dean shrugged and looked at Cas for a quick second. “Someone reminded me I’m not the type of killer my enemies think I am. He wasn’t a threat anymore, so I let him live.”

“I’m definitely going to go poke around wherever he is to see how he's doing… maybe do some mischief…” Gabriel pondered out loud. 

Dean snorted at the thought of that and didn’t complain. Cas just did a half smile and silently agreed it was a good idea. He wasn’t opposed to Gabriel using his trickster side to mess with Chuck. After what he made Dean and Sam go through, it was only fair. 

“Wait.” Gabriel’s eyes widened and he was at loss for words. “Jack absorbed his powers… holy shit. He is God, isn’t he? That’s what the empty meant when they said there was a new order.” Cas nodded. There was a new God, a new Death, a new ruler of hell… well fuck. He missed on a lot. “Wait, why is the new God a toddler?

“Yeah… about that. We’re not sure…” Sam said uncomfortably. None of them wanted to broach that subject now. They tried to keep it a secret, only telling those they trusted because truth is, they had no idea and little by little they had come to accept it. 

“And before you ask. No this was not Chucks doing. Whatever caused him to de-age to a toddler doesn’t seem to be of evil intent.”

“So, if he throws a tantrum the whole world explodes?”

“I had the same thought at first but no, it doesn’t seem like that’s going to happen.” 

“Wow… you truly have no idea what you’ve gotten yourselves in. Not that I’m surprised…” Gabriel huffed. He was exasperated by the Winchesters but mostly out of concern. 

“Oh?” Dean tensed up and challenged him to speak up. 

“You have thee literal God sleeping in your house. You have no fucking clue how he became a child. Put those two together and the possibilities are endless. The amount of risks the kid can be in.” 

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Think about it. If word gets around that arguably one of the most powerful creatures is defenceless and a literal toddler, there will be war to get to him. Having him is having unlimited power and it’s dangerous. Your wards are going to need to do better.” Gabriel had met Jack a total amount of two times, but he had a soft spot for kids and that was his nephew! He was going to do his best to help out. But if the kid had been like that for weeks, who knows who else has figured it out. 

“Cas warded the place after he came back.”

“Yeah, but it's still not the best. No offense, Cas. It's just, I can do better.” 

Cas didn’t look offended. For him it was clear why, he warded the place to the best of his abilities, but Gabriel was an archangel. There was always something more he could do. 

Gabriel closed his eyes and concentrated. Wards were not a big deal to him, but he had to craft these from scratch, make it so they could still be welcomed there but no one else. He snapped his fingers and the entire bunker’s walls began to glow orange with sigils none of the others had ever seen. Then after a few moments the sigils disappeared from clear sight. “There. Now the kid is more protected. And I suggest you try and figure out why he is a kid. Better safe than sorry.”

“He is fine. He is a bright kid, and nothing seems out of the ordinary. His powers are working, and he remembers us and most importantly he is  _ happy  _ and that’s all that matters.” Dean spoke up. He was inclined to trust Gabriel a bit more, but this was a clear warning that if Gabriel wanted to stay around, he would not poke around this one issue. 

“Okay fine. I’m only saying it to take care of him.” Gabriel put his hands up as a way to try and calm Dean. “Believe me, Deano. We are on the same side.” 

“Are we? All you said about others wanting to use Jack as a power source… do we know you are not one of those?”

“He is a kid, and my nephew. I would never!” Gabriel said indignantly. 

“I believe Gabriel means no harm, Dean.” Cas spoke up. 

Dean relaxed ever so slightly and threw a glance at him. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. My brother always used mischief, but he does mean well. I can see he cares for Jack.”

Dean pondered for a bit. He didn’t fully trust Gabriel, but he trusted Cas. And Cas trusted his brother. That would have to be enough for now. “Alright fine. But you can’t be alone with him, always keep one of us close by when Jack is there.”

Gabriel perked up. “So, you believe me? I can stay?” He thought convincing the older Winchester would take longer than this, but he wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth.. “Great. I can’t wait to get to know Jack.” He flashed a real smile. 

“Gabriel?” Dean said. 

“Yeah?”

“Do anything to betray us, hurt Jack in any way, even if it’s on accident. And I will make some fried angel wings with holy oil and kill you dead.”

“You say the most wonderful things.” Gabriel deadpanned. Not surprised at all with the death threat. He knew Dean, and he saw how overprotective he was of the kid. He expected nothing less. 

“I mean it. One wrong move and you’re gone.” Dean’s voice was tense. “But until that happens, welcome to the bunker.” 

Gabriel smiled. “Sweet. I’ll pick up a room. See ya Deano, Cas, Sam.” He saluted at them and snapped his fingers, in a second he was gone. 

“Relax, he merely teleported to a spare room a few hallways away from jack. He won’t be causing any problems tonight.” Cas told the brothers before they could overreact. 

“Thanks Cas.” Dean said. “I’m going to regret this aren't I?” He mumbled and rested his forehead on Cas’ shoulder. 

“I somehow doubt it. Good things do happen Dean.” Cas told him earnestly. 

“I agree with Cas. Now that Chuck isn’t making our lives a living hell, I think we can count on a few good things our way. Gabriel did seem truthful, and he could be of help.”

  
  
  


__________

_ “Okay so are you ready? Make sure everyone you want to take with you is awake. Because there will be no second chances.” The entity said.  _

_ Gabriel nodded. “I know. I have almost everyone. I’m only missing one.” He had gone around the entire empty looking for angels he could trust. They had woken up and demanded to know what was going on, but Gabriel said he was saving their lives and if they wanted back to Earth and heaven, they better be quiet for now. They did.  _

_ He only needed to wake up Balthazar. He was sleeping in the void, along with many others. Gabriel walked up to him and shook him awake, letting a little of his grace flow through so Balthazar would snap out of his endless sleep.  _

_ He was more confused than the others were so Gabriel helped him stand up. He motioned to be quiet and would explain later. Balthazar wanted to complain but he decided to go along with it for once.  _

_ As they were stepping away to join the rest Gabriel lost his footing and tripped on a sleeping body that was snapped awake. “Oh shit.” Gabriel whispered as the demon woke.  _

_ Before he could do anything, the entity was getting restless and transported all awake demons and angels away from the sleeping ones.  _

_ “Time is up. I want to sleep; I’m starting to regret letting you wake all these people.” The entity massaged their temples and stared at them annoyed.  _

_ “Wait, he is not part of the group.” Gabriel pointed at the demon. “It was an accident. I’ll just put him back to sleep.” _

_ “Nuh uh. I don’t want to deal with him if he wakes up again accidentally. I've seen how that story goes. I’m not risking them waking up any more times.” As the entity spoke Gabriel knew there was a bigger story behind that comment.  _

_ “that was not the deal.” Gabriel said. “Demons are no use for me.” _

_ “Tough luck. He is getting out of here when I throw you lot back to the world of the living.” The entity snapped annoyed.  _

_ The demon was confused as to what was happening and clearly wanted an explanation, but he hadn’t had the chance to speak.  _

_ “Black eyes, what’s your name?”  _

_ “Crowley. But what do—” _

_ “Crowley?” Why does that name sound familiar?  _ **_Oh_ ** _ “My plan might still work. The Winchesters like you…” Gabriel smirked as his plan started to fit together with the new addition. “Oh, yea I’m definitely telling them this was on purpose.” _

_ The entity rolled their eyes. “Okay this is enough. I hope I don’t see any of you in a very long time.” They flickered their hand and in a matter of seconds they disappeared from sight.  _

_ Gabriel, as well as his group of angels and Crowley found themselves waking up in the middle of a field with nothing but grass and dirt around. He quickly snapped the dirt away from his clothes and took a deep breath to appreciate the windy air and the smell of rain coming. Oh, how he missed it.  _

_ Someone coughed behind him to gain his attention. Crowley was half angry at not understanding what was going on but intrigued that he was somehow on earth again.  _

_ “What the bloody hell is going on?”  _

_ Gabriel smirked. Right... explanations and then paying the Winchesters a visit. Easy peasy. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I completely hate the fact we never saw the repercussions of the empty at the end, with Jack blowing up the bomb there, so i wanted to give the empty plot some closure, besides it gave me the great opportunity for Gabe to come back.  
> I hope you like my take on the empty! i would love to see your thoughts on it in the comments :D  
> Also, this fic has about 2-3 chapters left before i finish it, so we are close to the end!
> 
> Thanks for reading have an amazing day

**Author's Note:**

> The outline for this fic is already made and it should be about 6-7 chapters, that could change later though. 
> 
> I've been seeing so many posts about Baby!Jack on tumblr lately yet i can't seem to find fics about it so I'm making my own, and as I've said earlier, this will be mostly fluff. (of course there will be some light angst because they're the Winchesters, its impossible not to write angst with them involved) 
> 
> I would love to hear what you thought of this chapter! Coments and Kudos are more than welcome! 
> 
> Find me on Tumblr as @BrightTerror (My writing blog) or @Marvelmisha (my main blog where I post about SPN most of the time) 
> 
> Have an amazing day!


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